The most famous couple in the world is NOT at the Met Gala … but it’s not because they didn’t get invited.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were invited to Monday’s Met Gala in New York City, but they could not make it work as a result of their schedules.

Taylor knows what she’s missing out on, but Travis doesn’t. She was last at the Met Gala in 2016, when she was a co-chair … that year, the theme was “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology.” Travis has never been to the event.

Fans have been dying to see Taylor and Travis in public … but it won’t happen at the Met … and the last time they’ve been spotted together was back on March 14, when they ventured out in the Big Apple to break bread at Del Frisco’s Grille.