The priory of Dunstable was one of the monastic suppressions that Henry VIII chose to be a royal residence. It is mainly famous because it was in the chapter house that Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon was pronounced null and void, Catherine being, at the time, nearby at Ampthill.
It was late in his life that the King took a shine to Dunstable, presumably for its location as a hunting lodge. In 1543-4 the officers of the king’s works were ordered to make plans to extend and improve the monastic buildings for the king. Remarkably one of their plans survive and allow us to understand the precise layout of the royal lodgings. There were three suites, one each for the king, queen and Prince Edward. The Prince’s bedchamber inter-connected with the King’s and a gallery linked the Queen’s chamber to the Prince’s privy chamber. Each suite had its own staircase.
After Henry’s death the house was not used again as a royal residence and Queen Mary sold it for £300. The buildings were then demolished and no trace remains of them today.