Dolly Parton was "honoured and flattered" to be asked to tea by Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Dolly Parton was asked to tea by royalty but couldn't fit it in
The 77-year-old country music legend was promoting her new album 'Rockstar in London when she was asked to meet the royal, 41, but couldn't quite make it work because of her professional commitments and is keen for people to know that she did not turn the invitation down.
She told Saga Exceptional magazine: "I only had one full day and I did not have a second to do anything else besides work. But make sure people know I didn’t turn the invitation down. I was honoured and flattered that she even asked me."
The 'Jolene' hitmaker previously admitted that she felt "so bad" to have to say no to the Princess of Wales but knew that their meeting was not going to serve any purpose in terms of promoting her album and is hopeful that the invite may come again at some point in the future.
Speaking to Claudia Winkleman on BBC Radio 2, she said: “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 continued: “And one of these days I’m going to get to do that… That would be great. She [Catherine] wasn’t going to promote my rock album, so I had to say no."
The '9 to 5' star previously performed at the late Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee in 1977, and many years later, she admitted to being petrified of curtsying incorrectly.
She told 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 okay."
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