diff --git a/mdbook-ditaa b/mdbook-ditaa
index 02c11ac..4e9ec50 100755
--- a/mdbook-ditaa
+++ b/mdbook-ditaa
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ def expand_ditaa(m, context, directory):
     else:
         svg = subprocess.check_output(['ditaa', '-T', '--svg', '-'], input=ditaa_source.encode('utf-8'))
         svg = svg.decode('utf-8')
+        svg = re.sub(r'<\?xml.*?\?>', '', svg)
+        svg = svg.strip()
         cache.cursor().execute('INSERT INTO diagrams VALUES (?, ?)', (ditaa_source, svg))
         cache.cursor().execute('COMMIT')