London | Prince Harry is set to return to his new base in Canada later this week, after the Queen avoided a public schism at the top of the monarchy by reluctantly accepting her grandson's shock bid to distance himself from the royal family.

In an unusually personal statement issued shortly after the family's crisis summit on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), the Queen said she'd rather have kept her grandson in the fold. And she admitted that the family were still working out details of his controversial 'step back' from royal duties, hoping to nut out arrangements in the coming days.