Dolly Parton had to decline tea invite from Kate Middleton

While the U.S. does not have a royal family, for some of us, Dolly Parton is definitely the closest thing to royalty we have. Her philanthropy alone is enough to make her a special person. But it is hard to deny that her musical career has definitely made a mark as well.

So it probably comes as no surprise that a member of the real royal family in the U.K. took the opportunity to invite Parton to tea while the singer was in London on tour. According to Showbiz Cheatsheet, while in London, the country singer received an invitation from Princess Catherine for a visit and tea.

Unfortunately for both women, it was not meant to be. At least not this time around.

Dolly Parton has to turn down tea invitation from Princess Catherine

During an interview with BBC Radio, Dolly Parton explained exactly what happened and even joked about why she was unable to make it to tea with Kate Middleton. (While she didn't really explain why she couldn't make it, the fact that she went into detail a bit about how busy she is when on tour, it does make sense.)

According to Parton, "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. But she wasn’t going to promote my rock album so I had to say no."

After joking about why she had to say no the tea invitation, the singer continued by saying, "I love the people, the feel of London, I don’t unfortunately [get time to sightsee]. I have in the past, me and my band, in a tour bus when we have it planned."

Honestly, it makes sense that the singer might not have had time to meet up with Princess Catherine since she already had her schedule worked out for this tour. And it must be difficult to add in other stops along the way when you are on a tight schedule.

We love Dolly Parton and we hope that in the future she gets a chance to experience a royal tea, no matter who it may be with. Sadly, it just didn't happen this time.