diff --git a/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandler.java b/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandler.java
index 7e778c08fd..e655b5084e 100644
--- a/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandler.java
+++ b/runtime/service/src/main/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandler.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import static org.apache.polaris.service.catalog.common.ExceptionUtils.alreadyExistsExceptionForTableLikeEntity;
 import static org.apache.polaris.service.catalog.common.ExceptionUtils.notFoundExceptionForTableLikeEntity;
 
+import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
@@ -1399,7 +1400,8 @@ public void renameView(RenameTableRequest request) {
     catalogHandlerUtils().renameView(viewCatalog, request);
   }
 
-  private @NonNull LoadTableResponse filterResponseToSnapshots(
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  @NonNull LoadTableResponse filterResponseToSnapshots(
       LoadTableResponse loadTableResponse, String snapshots) {
     if (snapshots == null || snapshots.equalsIgnoreCase(SNAPSHOTS_ALL)) {
       return loadTableResponse;
@@ -1414,8 +1416,14 @@ public void renameView(RenameTableRequest request) {
       TableMetadata filteredMetadata =
           metadata.removeSnapshotsIf(s -> !referencedSnapshotIds.contains(s.snapshotId()));
 
+      TableMetadata filteredMetadataWithLocation =
+          TableMetadata.buildFrom(filteredMetadata)
+              .withMetadataLocation(metadata.metadataFileLocation())
+              .discardChanges()
+              .build();
+
       return LoadTableResponse.builder()
-          .withTableMetadata(filteredMetadata)
+          .withTableMetadata(filteredMetadataWithLocation)
           .addAllConfig(loadTableResponse.config())
           .addAllCredentials(loadTableResponse.credentials())
           .build();
diff --git a/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandlerTest.java b/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandlerTest.java
index 14c1d3d4b9..7ccbed8486 100644
--- a/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandlerTest.java
+++ b/runtime/service/src/test/java/org/apache/polaris/service/catalog/iceberg/IcebergCatalogHandlerTest.java
@@ -33,13 +33,21 @@
 import java.util.Optional;
 import java.util.Set;
 import org.apache.iceberg.BaseTable;
+import org.apache.iceberg.DataFile;
+import org.apache.iceberg.DataFiles;
+import org.apache.iceberg.PartitionSpec;
+import org.apache.iceberg.Schema;
+import org.apache.iceberg.Table;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableMetadata;
 import org.apache.iceberg.TableOperations;
 import org.apache.iceberg.catalog.Catalog;
 import org.apache.iceberg.catalog.Namespace;
 import org.apache.iceberg.catalog.TableIdentifier;
+import org.apache.iceberg.inmemory.InMemoryCatalog;
 import org.apache.iceberg.rest.credentials.Credential;
 import org.apache.iceberg.rest.responses.ImmutableLoadCredentialsResponse;
+import org.apache.iceberg.rest.responses.LoadTableResponse;
+import org.apache.iceberg.types.Types;
 import org.apache.polaris.core.PolarisDiagnostics;
 import org.apache.polaris.core.auth.PolarisAuthorizer;
 import org.apache.polaris.core.auth.PolarisPrincipal;
@@ -296,4 +304,43 @@ void loadCredentialsFallsBackWhenEntityLocationMissing() {
               assertThat(c.config()).containsExactlyInAnyOrderEntriesOf(fakeCredentials);
             });
   }
+
+  @Test
+  @SuppressWarnings("resource")
+  void filterResponseToSnapshotsRefsPreservesMetadataLocation() throws Exception {
+    try (InMemoryCatalog catalog = new InMemoryCatalog()) {
+      catalog.initialize("test", Map.of());
+      catalog.createNamespace(NS1);
+      Schema schema = new Schema(Types.NestedField.required(1, "id", Types.IntegerType.get()));
+      Table table = catalog.createTable(TABLE2, schema);
+      table.newFastAppend().appendFile(dataFile("file:/tmp/data/f1.parquet")).commit();
+      table.newFastAppend().appendFile(dataFile("file:/tmp/data/f2.parquet")).commit();
+
+      TableMetadata metadata = ((BaseTable) catalog.loadTable(TABLE2)).operations().current();
+      assertThat(metadata.snapshots()).hasSize(2);
+
+      LoadTableResponse response = LoadTableResponse.builder().withTableMetadata(metadata).build();
+      String metadataLocation = response.metadataLocation();
+      assertThat(metadataLocation)
+          .as("precondition: the unfiltered (snapshots=all) response carries a metadata-location")
+          .isNotNull();
+
+      LoadTableResponse filtered = newHandler().filterResponseToSnapshots(response, "refs");
+
+      assertThat(filtered.tableMetadata().snapshots())
+          .as("snapshots=refs must still drop the historical (non-ref) snapshot")
+          .hasSize(1);
+      assertThat(filtered.metadataLocation())
+          .as("metadata-location must be preserved when filtering snapshots=refs")
+          .isEqualTo(metadataLocation);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private static DataFile dataFile(String path) {
+    return DataFiles.builder(PartitionSpec.unpartitioned())
+        .withPath(path)
+        .withFileSizeInBytes(10L)
+        .withRecordCount(1L)
+        .build();
+  }
 }