diff --git a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/XHTMLText.java b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/XHTMLText.java
index 4491fe4ac..754edbdd8 100644
--- a/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/XHTMLText.java
+++ b/source/org/jivesoftware/smackx/XHTMLText.java
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ import org.jivesoftware.smack.util.StringUtils;
  */
 public class XHTMLText {
 
+    private static final String NAMESPACE = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml";
+
     private StringBuilder text = new StringBuilder(30);
 
     /**
@@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ public class XHTMLText {
      * @param lang the language of the body
      */
     private void appendOpenBodyTag(String style, String lang) {
-        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("<body");
+        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("<body xmlns=\"" + NAMESPACE + "\"");
         if (style != null) {
             sb.append(" style=\"");
             sb.append(style);
