Turns out living legend Dolly Parton got herself a coveted invite to tea with Princess Kate Middleton over in England, and went ahead and turned it down.
“This time, Lordy, I even got invited to have tea with Kate but I couldn’t even go,” Dolly recalled during a chat with BBC Radio 2 (via Us Weekly). “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.” She added jokingly, “But she wasn’t going to promote my rock album so I had to say no.”
NEVER CHANGE, DOLLY.
FYI, Dolly actually has an established connection to the royal family, so this invite from Kate isn’t coming out of nowhere. Dolly performed for Queen Elizabeth back in 1997 during her Silver Jubilee, and told TIME of the experience (via The Tennessean), “When they told me on the plane I was appearing in front of the queen, I just jumped up and down telling everyone. It’s just one of the biggest thrills of my life. When I was a little girl I grew up in a world of kings and queens and princes and princesses in fairy tales. Now I was going to meet one.”
Dolly shared a photo of the moment she met the Queen in a tribute following her death (go ahead and swipe):
Speaking of meeting Her Majesty, Dolly said “That was a great moment, I thought. It’s like I’m not a star worshiper, but as a kid, I was always intrigued by the kings and queens, and I always loved the magazines and the books and their costumes and all. Of course, they weren’t like the old kings and queen of the old stories, but it still had that romantic feeling to me to think, ‘That’s the Queen of England.'”
Mehera Bonner is a celebrity and entertainment news writer who enjoys Bravo and Antiques Roadshow with equal enthusiasm, She was previously entertainment editor at Marie Claire and has covered pop culture for over a decade.