Kate Middleton; Dolly Parton.Photo:Karwai Tang/WireImage; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Karwai Tang/WireImage; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
“I was honored and flattered that she even asked me,” Parton told the outlet about the royal invitation. “I only had one full day and I did not have a second to do anything else besides work.”
However, she noted that she wanted to “make sure people know I didn’t turn the invitation down" and that it was simply a matter of her schedule being too packed already.
The singer told the outlet that she would jump at the chance to have tea with the Princess of Wales if she extended the offer again. She even has an idea about what they would talk about: their shared passion for helping children.
Kate has launched several initiatives emphasizing theimportance of early childhood developmental carein the U.K., while the “9 to 5” singer has herImagination Library, which as of this year has gifted200 million books worldwideto children since it was founded.
Dolly Parton poses with her guitar during her Christmas special.Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty
Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty
“So maybe that’s what we can talk about when we do have tea,” Parton said, adding, “I think she’s adorable and I hope someday to be able to sit down and have a good conversation with her.”
Parton initially discussed turning down Kate’s offer in an interview withBBC Radio 2back in August, saying she “felt so bad” that she “couldn’t even go” to tea when they “had all this stuff set up.”
She said at the time that her team had her schedule so packed for promotions for her new albumRockstarthat she could not squeeze in the tea meeting. Parton made light of the incident in the interview, joking of Kate, “She wasn’t going to promote my rock album, so I had to say no.”
While Parton wasn’t able to cross paths with royalty during this trip, she previously metQueen Elizabethduring her Silver Jubilee in 1977. The singer recalled that she was “scared to death” about messing up the curtsy while meeting the royal, but recalled how “very warm, very sweet” and “very giving” the Queen was.
“Just meeting the Queen of England, just to meet a queen, it was amazing,” Parton toldInsider.
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The “I Will Always Love You” singer also paid tribute to the Queen whenshe died in September 2022.
“She carried herself with grace and strength her entire life,”Parton wrote on Instagram, adding a photo of her meeting with the late monarch. “May she Rest in Peace. My thoughts and prayers are with her family at this time.”
source: people.com
