#imagination library

I’ve been following. Here’s how it started.

The first thing to know is Dolly is a big fan of the BRF, especially Her Late Majesty.

1. In August 2023, Dolly gives a BBC interview and mentions that Kate invited her to tea but Dolly couldn’t make time in her schedule so she had to decline the invite.

You might be asking why Kate/KP is interested in Dolly and while we don’t know, I suspect it has something to do with Dolly’s Imagination Library and the work she’s done with young kids, which lines up with Kate’s work in the early years. (And also it’s Dolly Parton - a reason is not needed!)

2. In 2024, Dolly is back in the UK to promote her new wine that is soon launching there and in an interview with Closer, mentions that after declining the KP tea invite, she invited the Waleses to Dollywood, her theme park in Tennessee. (I’ve been. It’s great. Excellent food.)

Remember that Closer is a Sussex mouthpiece.

3. A couple of weeks ago (May 2025), Huff Post asks Dolly - who has her own food line - if she would do a cooking show, she said no. Then Huff Post asked if Dolly would collaborate with Meghan on a cooking show and Dolly sidestepped the question by saying she was going to England later this year to meet Camilla for a Reading Room/ Imagination Library project.

4. A couple of days later, Kinsey Scofield is on Maureen Callahan’s podcast and reveals that a source told her Meghan had invited Dolly to be on WLM but Dolly declined. Kinsey’s source told her that Dolly’s team told them/the source that Dolly does not want to be linked to Meghan or Meghan’s brand at all. Maureen writes about it for the Daily Mail.

Archived Link - grabbed from SMM

And it’s been going through the music industry ever since because that now makes 3 titans of industry that have refused to work with Meghan - Taylor, Beyonce, and Dolly.

And Dolly is such a beloved figure in American culture (let alone the music industry) that her endorsement can be really important.

Personally I’m skeptical that Kinsey has a source on Dolly’s team that leaked, only because Dolly runs a very tight ship. I do feel like Kinsey’s source is someone on the Sussex side, but that is just me. I do fully believe 100% that Meghan invited Dolly because of how much Dolly talked about the Waleses and I do feel like she thought being able to claim Dolly Parton as her guest before Kate did would help her with the show and in her one-sided war against Kate.

Sebastian Murdock at HuffPost:

A new budget proposal by Republican lawmakers in Indiana would see funding cut to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which puts books into the hands of thousands of kids across the state — but the country star is trying to get them to reconsider. “We are hopeful that Governor [Mike] Braun and the Indiana Legislature will continue this vital investment by restoring the state’s funding match for local Imagination Library programs,“ Parton’s rep said in a statement to the Daily Beast on Tuesday. ”The beauty of the Imagination Library is that it unites us all — regardless of politics — because every child deserves the chance to dream big and succeed.” The program, which was started by the country music superstar and philanthropist in 1995, puts free books into the hands of millions of kids across the country each month. In Indiana alone, more than 15,000 kids under the age of 5 receive free books from the program, the South Bend Tribune reported. But a new biennial budget proposal authored by state Rep. Jeffrey Thompson (R) and co-authored by Republican Reps. Greg Porter, Jack Jordan and Craig Snow, would see funding for the literacy program gutted.

Last year, the state spent $2.5 million on the program, and the Indiana State Library requested $4 million to expand the program this year. Instead, Braun’s recommendation is to stop funding the program entirely. The state’s usual match of 50% funding was slashed to zero in the new budget proposal. (The charity group United Way helps finance the other 50%, according to the Tribune.)

Singer Dolly Parton urges Gov. Mike Braun (R) and Republicans in Indiana to not eliminate her Imagination Library program for kids.

See Also:

When the first song was at the top of the charts in 1974, Elvis wanted to record his own version of the song. Dolly was interested until Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, said that it was standard procedure that when the king of rock and roll covered a song - half of the rights to that song would go to him in the future. She refused it.

"I said, 'I'm really, really sorry' and cried all night. It was terrible for me, on the one hand, it's Elvis. People told me: "You are crazy." It's Elvis Presley...' but I just couldn't do it. Something told me in my heart not to do it and I didn't. I know he would rock with that song. But I couldn't. And then Whitney Houston came along with her version and I made enough money from the rights to buy Dollywood."

She grew up in severe poverty and no one famous has done more for the education of the poor than her.

In 1990, the percentage of students who did not graduate from high school in her hometown was over 30%. She introduced the "Buddy Program", where all high school graduates received a nice sum when they graduated. It wasn't just a waste of money, she personally came and explained the concept to them - everyone should find a buddy, and whoever doesn't succeed she will find one for them. Everyone had to sign that they will graduate and do everything in their power to ensure that their buddy also graduates. She taught young people about friendship and helping. The number of school dropouts dropped to below 6% and has remained so until today.

When 900 families lost their homes in the 2016 fires, she paid each family $1,000 for the next five months. When she came to the bank to finish the paperwork, she gave each family another $5,000 to find. A total of nine million dollars.

Also, her work - Imagination Library from 1995, was inspired by her realization that young people in rural areas and poor families already fall behind when they start school and that this prevents them from pursuing higher education. The goal of her program was for every child in her district to receive one book, once a month, from birth to school, completely free of charge, without any conditions. It started as an initiative in her hometown and has spread to a huge number of countries around the world. By 2018, over 100 million books were distributed in this way.

She is also known for her witty statements, at the beginning of her career she said-"I'm not offended by jokes about stupid blondes because I know I'm not stupid... and I'm not really blonde either."