The Queen of Country may have passed but the British King and Queen stepped forward Wednesday to offer their own personal salute to the late Dolly Parton.
Taking to social media on the official Royal Family site on X, the following words of comfort and condolences were offered:
Remembering the late, great Dolly, who brought joy, comfort and inspiration to so many – including the millions of children given free books through her Imagination Library. We will always
you.
That’s not all. The Band of the Coldstream Guards played Parton’s hit song 9 to 5 during the Changing of the Guard ceremony, drawing crowds of tourists who stopped to enjoy. Watch and listen below:
Released in 1980, 9 to 5 became one of Parton’s biggest hits and is still among her best-known songs. It earned Parton her first Oscar nomination.
The track was written by Parton for a film of the same name in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
The BBC notes Queen Camilla’s charity, the Queen’s Reading Room. also paid tribute, describing the singer as an “icon” and praising her work encouraging children to read through her Imagination Library programme.
They added: “She gave the most precious of gifts: the chance to millions of young minds of opening the door to imagination, possibility and a lifelong love of reading.”
Dolly Parton loved British royalty by return and had a chance to meet them in Scotland back in the 1970s.
FILE: 20th May 1977: Country music queen Dolly Parton back in London after performing at the King’s Theatre, Glasgow, at a Scottish Royal Jubilee Television Special in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II. She then commenced a tour of Britain and the continent. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
She met Queen Elizabeth II in 1977 in Glasgow during the Silver Jubilee celebrations and told a local paper it had been “one of the biggest thrills of my life,” the BBC report sets out.
“When I was a little girl, I grew up in a world of kings and queens and princes and princesses in fairy tales,” Dolly said. “Now I’m going to meet one.”