St. Albans is a planned rendezvous in the account of a summer when sweating sickness drives the royal party away from London. Margaret Pole offers to escort Princess Mary Tudor there to join Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, making the town a point of connection between the princess and her parents at a time of courtly illness and uncertainty.

A Meeting Place During the Outbreak

The royal household is traveling through the country while the sickness spreads. Margaret tells Mary to join her parents at St. Albans, then says she will take the princess there before going to her own house. The passage presents the town as the intended destination for this journey, not as the setting for a described stay or encounter.

The Court Away from London

The plan takes shape against a wider retreat from the capital. Margaret expects a reduced company: Thomas Wolsey has withdrawn to his home with his physician, while Anne Boleyn has gone to Hever. She tells Mary that Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon may therefore be accompanied by only a few attendants, including Thomas More and Maria de Salinas. St. Albans is thus associated with a temporary reunion in a court diminished by illness and dispersal.

Narrative Significance

Mary’s anxious question about who will be present shows that the proposed journey carries emotional weight beyond its destination. Margaret reassures her that she will see both parents, and the prospect visibly lifts the princess’s spirits. St. Albans functions as the hoped-for setting for that reunion, while Margaret’s offer to accompany Mary frames the journey as an act of care.