LONDON – The Band of the Coldstream Guards paid tribute to Dolly Parton outside Buckingham Palace on Wednesday morning, performing her iconic 1980 hit “9 to 5” during the Changing of the Guard ceremony, the morning after the country music legend’s death.
The legendary singer died on Tuesday, 25 August, following a brief battle with cancer. Her nephew, Bryan Seaver, announced her death in a video shared on social media.
A heartfelt message from the palace
The royal family shared a video of the touching tribute on Instagram, showing soldiers in their traditional red coats and bearskin hats performing the working woman’s anthem in formation before gathered tourists.
“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,” the royals wrote in the caption. “We will always ❤️ you.”
The Imagination Library, Parton’s book-giving initiative, has sent free books to children from birth to age five since expanding to the United Kingdom in 2007.
Decades of royal connections
Parton’s relationship with the British royal family spanned nearly five decades. She performed at the Royal Variety Performance to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, describing it as “one of the biggest thrills” of her life.
“Just meeting the Queen of England, just to meet a queen, it was amazing,” she latersaid, calling the late monarch “very warm, very sweet”.
In more recent years, Parton had to decline a tea invitation from Kate Middleton in 2023 because she was promoting her album Rockstar. “I felt so bad … I couldn’t even go,” she said on BBC Radio 2. “They had all this stuff set up. But I thought that was very sweet and nice of her to invite me to tea.”
An unfulfilled invitation
The following year, Parton extended her own invitation, offering to host the Princess of Wales and her children – Prince George (13), Princess Charlotte (11) and Prince Louis (8) — at her Dollywood amusement park in Tennessee.
“The kids could go on all the rides and we would treat them like royalty,” she said, adding that she would give the princess her mashed potatoes.
In 2025, Parton told HuffPost she planned to meet the royals. “I think they’re involved a lot with our Imagination Library there. So I’m going to go over there and kind of really rub elbows with the royalty,” she said.
Tributes have poured in from musicians and celebrities worldwide, including Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Beyoncé, following the death of the “Jolene” singer who penned global hits including “I Will Always Love You”.
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