Dolly Parton Says She Turned Down Tea With Kate Middleton Because “She Wasn’t Going To Promote My Rock Album”

A princess and a country Queen.

Dolly Parton recently went across the pond to do some promotion for her forthcoming, full-blown rock and roll album Rockstar, where she spoke with Claudia Winkleman on BBC Radio 2.

During the interview, Dolly revealed that Princess of Wales Kate Middleton had invited her to have tea at Buckingham Palace during her time in London, though unfortunately, she couldn’t make it due to her prior commitments:

“This time, Lordy, I even got invited to have tea with Kate. And I felt so bad… I couldn’t even go! They had all this stuff set up.”

Dolly, who met Queen Elizabeth several times over the decades, added that she wants to make a point to get back and have tea with Princess Kate one day:

“I thought it was very sweet and nice of her to invite me and one of these days I’m going to get to do that – that would be great.”

The best part came, though, when she revealed the exact reason that she had to turn the invitation down aside from her busy schedule…

“She wasn’t going to promote my rock album, so I had to say no.”

Long live the Queen, amirite?

In all seriousness, if and when this tea does ever happen, I could only imagine being a fly on the wall and getting to hear what these two would talk about and discuss.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Royals, and obviously Kate is one of my favorites, and that tea invite is quite coveted overseas, so hopefully Dolly will take her up on it eventually.

I have a feel she’s one of the few people who’s ever turned it down to begin with, honestly.

Rockstar is due out everywhere on November 17th, which features an absolutely all-star cast full of rock icons and legends on a good majority of the songs.

Dolly has already put out some really cool singles and collaborations too, from “Magic Man (Carl Version) ft. Ann Wilson,” ‘“Bygones ft. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5,” and a mashup Queen’s multi-Platinum mega hits “We Are The Champions” and “We Will Rock You.”

Oh yeah, and speaking of theBrits, she also just got the surviving Beatles members back together…

“Let It Be”

Rockstar tracklist:

1. Rock Star (special guest Richie Sambora)2. World on Fire3. Every Breath You Take (feat. Sting)4. Open Arms (feat. Steve Perry)5. Magic Man (feat. Ann Wilson with special guest Howard Leese)6. Long As I Can See The Light (feat. John Fogerty)7. Either Or (feat. Kid Rock)8. I Want You Back (feat. Steven Tyler with special guest Warren Haynes)9. What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You (feat. Stevie Nicks with special guest Waddy Wachtel)10. Purple Rain11. Baby, I Love Your Way (feat. Peter Frampton)12. I Hate Myself For Loving You (feat. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)13. Night Moves (feat. Chris Stapleton)14. Wrecking Ball (feat. Miley Cyrus)15. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (feat. P!nk & Brandi Carlile)16. Keep On Loving You (feat. Kevin Cronin)17. Heart Of Glass (feat. Debbie Harry)18. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (feat. Elton John)19. Tried To Rock And Roll Me (feat. Melissa Etheridge)20. Stairway To Heaven (feat. Lizzo & Sasha Flute)21. We Are The Champions22. Bygones (feat. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5)23. My Blue Tears (feat. Simon Le Bon)24. What’s Up? (feat. Linda Perry)25. You’re No Good (feat. Emmylou Harris & Sheryl Crow)26. Heartbreaker (feat. Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)27. Bittersweet (feat. Michael McDonald)28. I Dreamed About Elvis (feat. Ronnie McDowell with special guest The Jordanaires)29. Let It Be (feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr with special guests Peter Frampton & Mick Fleetwood)30. Free Bird (feat. Ronnie Van Zant with special guests Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)