You’ll Never Guess Who Dolly Parton Is Inviting for Thanksgiving

Published: November 19, 2024

You’ll Never Guess Who Dolly Parton Is Inviting for Thanksgiving

Movieguide® Contributor

Singer Dolly Parton has some special guests in mind for Thanksgiving at Dollywood this year — none other than Prince William and his family.

“Oh, I would absolutely love for them to come to Dollywood, that would be fantastic!” she said in an interview with Closer. “The kids could go on all the rides, and we would treat them like royalty! I’d give Kate my mashed potatoes — I wouldn’t put on any airs for them. I would just let them enjoy what we enjoy, and I’m sure that’s the way they would want it. I would love to have those kids at Dollywood.”

Last year, Kate Middleton invited Parton over for tea at the palace. Parton declined due to scheduling conflicts. She was promoting her new album, “Rockstar.”

She told BBC Radio 2 that she “felt so bad” she turned Middleton down. She joked the princess “wasn’t going to promote my rock album, so I had to say no.”

“I was honored and flattered that she even asked me,” Parton told Saga Exceptional. “I only had one full day and I did not have a second to do anything else besides work.”

She thought it “very sweet and nice” of Middleton to ask and said, “One of these days I’m going to get to do that, that would be great.”

Parton did meet the late Queen Elizabeth in 1977 and said she was “very sweet.” The “Jolene” singer has had a fascination with England’s royals since she was young. She saw them as “people living in another world with riches and crowns and jewelry.”

When she met the queen, she felt a little overwhelmed with the protocols, but the queen made her feel at ease.

“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,” Parton said. “That’s just something she had to do. And if somebody made a mistake, it was okay.”

“I was scared to death that I was not going to know how to curtsy, that I wasn’t going to bend right, but she was just very warm, very sweet, and I could tell she was a very giving person. And just meeting the Queen of England, just to meet a queen, it was amazing,” she recalled.