diff --git a/svgio/source/svgreader/svgcharacternode.cxx b/svgio/source/svgreader/svgcharacternode.cxx
index a2661526bf6b..ff9237cf47a0 100644
--- a/svgio/source/svgreader/svgcharacternode.cxx
+++ b/svgio/source/svgreader/svgcharacternode.cxx
@@ -463,6 +463,7 @@ namespace svgio
                         aFontAttribute,
                         aLocale,
                         aFill,
+                        COL_TRANSPARENT,
 
                         // extra props for decorated
                         aDecoColor,