Dolly Parton Turned Down an Invitation From Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales
"She wasn't going to promote my rock album."
Dolly Parton is a busy woman, to the extent that she refuses to text people and only uses fax. Well, this tight schedule caused her to make some cuts on her most recent trip to the UK and stand up a VIP... a Very Important Princess.
Claudia Winkleman of BBC Radio 2 asked Parton if she planned to see more London during her trip. I can imagine that Parton would want to catch a Big Bus Tour or take a spin on the London Eye.
Parton revealed that she had received a very special invitation during her most recent trip to the UK, she said, “This time, Lordy, I even got invited to have tea with Kate [Middleton], and I felt so bad… I couldn’t even go! They had all this stuff set up.”
The Queen of Country turned down the Princess of Wales for afternoon tea!
She even joked that her choice to reject the invitation wasn't just the result of a packed schedule but rather prioritizing her time. Parton told Winkleman, "She wasn’t going to promote my rock album, so I had to say no."
But the singer said that she found it "very sweet and nice" that Middleton extended an invitation, and that she hopes to meet with her on one of her next visits.
This isn't the first time that Parton has earned an invite from the royals. She performed at Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977 and still remembers how afraid she was to curtsy correctly.
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In February, she recalled to Insider, "Even though you have to do the protocol, you have to bow and all that, I could tell that she didn't care about that. That's just something she had to do, and if somebody made a mistake, it was OK."
Well, I have no doubt the British royals will soon be lucky enough to meet real American royalty, and she'll teach them a thing or two!
Fleurine Tideman is a freelance writer who is always ready to discuss celebrities, entertainment, mental health, relationships and anything else her busy brain comes up with. She comes from the small, rainy land of the Netherlands, but she uses the flexibility of her work to travel around Europe and explore new places. She spent several years working in the travel industry, which taught her how to fit insane amounts in her hand luggage. She has a degree in Psychology and Anthropology, which she uses to psychoanalyse herself and others. She’s a regular contributor for Betches, and you can also find her work on Pop Sugar, Insider, Time Out or her own blog, Symptoms of Living. At Marie Claire, she’ll be covering celebrity news, usually written to the sounds of Taylor Swift.