diff --git a/pyiceberg/catalog/rest.py b/pyiceberg/catalog/rest.py
index 20a04d9c5b..1cc6bd27c0 100644
--- a/pyiceberg/catalog/rest.py
+++ b/pyiceberg/catalog/rest.py
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ class IdentifierKind(Enum):
     VIEW = "view"
 
 
+ACCESS_DELEGATION_DEFAULT = "vended-credentials"
 AUTHORIZATION_HEADER = "Authorization"
 BEARER_PREFIX = "Bearer"
 CATALOG_SCOPE = "catalog"
@@ -555,7 +556,7 @@ def _config_headers(self, session: Session) -> None:
         session.headers["Content-type"] = "application/json"
         session.headers["X-Client-Version"] = ICEBERG_REST_SPEC_VERSION
         session.headers["User-Agent"] = f"PyIceberg/{__version__}"
-        session.headers["X-Iceberg-Access-Delegation"] = "vended-credentials"
+        session.headers.setdefault("X-Iceberg-Access-Delegation", ACCESS_DELEGATION_DEFAULT)
 
     def _extract_headers_from_properties(self) -> Dict[str, str]:
         return {key[len(HEADER_PREFIX) :]: value for key, value in self.properties.items() if key.startswith(HEADER_PREFIX)}
diff --git a/tests/catalog/test_rest.py b/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
index f05e15df38..9d75154ae0 100644
--- a/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
+++ b/tests/catalog/test_rest.py
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@
     "X-Client-Version": "0.14.1",
     "User-Agent": f"PyIceberg/{pyiceberg.__version__}",
     "Authorization": f"Bearer {TEST_TOKEN}",
+    "X-Iceberg-Access-Delegation": "vended-credentials",
 }
 OAUTH_TEST_HEADERS = {
     "Content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded",
@@ -708,6 +709,38 @@ def test_load_table_200(rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_
     assert actual == expected
 
 
+def test_load_table_honor_access_delegation(
+    rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json: Dict[str, Any]
+) -> None:
+    test_headers_with_remote_signing = {**TEST_HEADERS, "X-Iceberg-Access-Delegation": "remote-signing"}
+    rest_mock.get(
+        f"{TEST_URI}v1/namespaces/fokko/tables/table",
+        json=example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json,
+        status_code=200,
+        request_headers=test_headers_with_remote_signing,
+    )
+    # catalog = RestCatalog("rest", **{"uri": TEST_URI, "token": TEST_TOKEN, "access-delegation": "remote-signing"})
+    catalog = RestCatalog(
+        "rest",
+        **{
+            "uri": TEST_URI,
+            "token": TEST_TOKEN,
+            "header.X-Iceberg-Access-Delegation": "remote-signing",
+        },
+    )
+    actual = catalog.load_table(("fokko", "table"))
+    expected = Table(
+        identifier=("fokko", "table"),
+        metadata_location=example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json["metadata-location"],
+        metadata=TableMetadataV1(**example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json["metadata"]),
+        io=load_file_io(),
+        catalog=catalog,
+    )
+    # First compare the dicts
+    assert actual.metadata.model_dump() == expected.metadata.model_dump()
+    assert actual == expected
+
+
 def test_load_table_from_self_identifier_200(
     rest_mock: Mocker, example_table_metadata_with_snapshot_v1_rest_json: Dict[str, Any]
 ) -> None: