Newspaper headlines: Royal Family ‘crisis talks’ and jet ‘hit by missile’

The reverberations of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from their royal duties dominate both the front and inside pages.

The news that the duchess has left the UK is the main story for the Daily Mail – with the headline “Meghan flees to Canada”.

It says she has left Prince Harry to deal with the fallout over what it calls their “abdication” crisis.

The paper adds that their son, Archie, had remained with his nanny in Canada when they returned to Britain earlier this week, and quotes sources as saying Meghan hadn’t planned to remain in the UK for long.

According to the Daily Express headline, the Queen’s message was: “Sort it out now!”

The Sun runs an angrily-worded editorial calling the couple rude, entitled and selfish.

“It is obnoxious behaviour,” the paper says, referencing their decision to make the surprise announcement without consulting other royals. “But it’s not just the family they have betrayed. They are grotesquely abusing the generosity and goodwill of taxpayers too.”

The Spectator website says the Queen will “no doubt seek to fashion a stable compromise solution” with Harry and Meghan.

But if they are unwilling to acknowledge their places in a strictly hierarchical institution to which they owe unflinching loyalty, then a very tough decision beckons.

The Times reports that Prince Charles has made it clear he won’t be writing his son a blank cheque as he and his wife embark on a new life.

According to the Daily Telegraph, there’s concern in government about the couple’s insistence that they should continue to receive security from Scotland Yard protection officers.

The Sun says the Sussexes are under pressure to give up their titles to stop them cashing in on their status.

But the Mail says the Royal Family is not planning to make them do that for fear it would look vengeful and reminiscent of the treatment meted out to Princess Diana.

The Guardian, the Financial Times and the i lead on the reports by Western intelligence that the Ukrainian plane that crashed near Tehran was shot down by an Iranian missile.

The Guardian says it came down while Iranian commanders were expecting an imminent US response to the missile attacks on US bases in Iraq a short time earlier.

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Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, the draft agreement that would restore power sharing at Stormont is high on the agenda.

The Belfast Telegraph has the headline: “Fresh hope as DUP says yes to Stormont power-sharing deal”.

The New Statesman website says the fact that Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith is even in a position to publish a deal, let alone recall the assembly, is testament to just how profound an impact the general election result had on the two main parties, Sinn Féin and the DUP.

Finally, the Guardian reports that after decades of decline, the number of independent bookshops has risen for the third year in a row – with 890 of them now in the UK and Ireland.

James Ashmore – who opened one of the shops with his wife, Louise, in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire – tells the paper that when their stock arrived, they spent a good five minutes just smelling all the books.

“Putting them on shelves was one of the best things,” he says. “Books are so gorgeous to look at.”