Dolly Parton reveals the hilarious reason why she turned down afternoon tea with Kate Middleton

Dolly Parton has revealed the hilarious reason why she turned down an invitation for tea with the Princess of Wales.

The country singer, 77, explained she received the coveted invitation from Kate Middleton, 41, whilst she was in London for work.

Whilst sharing her love of the capital, the Jolene singer admitted she almost brushed shoulders with the residents of Buckingham Palace, but unfortunately ‘couldn’t go’.

Dolly said during an appearance on BBC Radio 2: ‘This time, Lordy, I even got invited to have tea with Kate but I couldn’t even go.

‘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.’

Then, in true Dolly Parton style, she cracked a joke as to what made her decline Kate’s invite. She said: ‘But she wasn’t going to promote my rock album so I had to say no.’

She explained her regret at not having explored more of the city while on tour, but concluded she didn’t ever have enough time to play tourist.

The singer told presenter and host Claudia Winkleman of her admiration for the capital.

Dolly said: ‘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.’

It comes after the star said she would rather ‘drop dead’ in the middle of a song on stage than hang up the microphone in a new interview.

Despite approaching a six decade-long career in the music industry, Dolly has no plans to retire.

‘I would never retire. I would hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song on stage someday – and hopefully one I’ve written – but that’s how I hope to go,’ she told Ken Bruce on Greatest Hits Radio.

‘I don’t have much of a choice in that but in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.’

Dolly owns a vast catalogue of some 3,000 songs, penning iconic belters such as Jolene and I Will Always Love You.

While the country music sensation is determined to keep performing, she admitted she has scaled back her work schedule in some aspects.

‘I’m not touring anymore but I will continue to do special shows here and there now and then like a long weekend or festival shows,’ she said.

‘But as far as touring I think those days are pretty much behind me… you have to stay gone so long on a tour to make it productive and prosperous and that’s a lot of time at my age – I ain’t got no years to waste.’

Instead of living on the road, Dolly said she wants to host more TV shows or act in more movies.

‘I want to have my own story called The Life of Many Colours where I have a whole TV series of my life,’ she said.

‘Stuff that people haven’t seen or heard about me and where I come from and how I got to be how and who I am. The bad, the good and the ugly!’

‘So that’s one thing I want to do and then just host more TV shows, do more movies. I want to have my own line of makeup, own line of wigs and clothes.

‘Once you get to a certain place in your career you get a lot of offers and some of them are just really hard to turn down.’

The interview comes after Dolly’s announcement for her new album Rockstar; her 49th studio album, which is set to release in November.

The album will feature 30 songs – nine original tracks from Parton and 21 classic rock covers with collaborators such as Elton John, Sting, Pink and more.