diff --git a/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp b/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
index c59725b0..97890d2f 100644
--- a/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
+++ b/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
@@ -55,9 +55,10 @@ namespace Catch {
                         break;
 
                     default:
-                        // Escape control chars - based on contribution by @espenalb in PR #465
+                        // Escape control chars - based on contribution by @espenalb in PR #465 and
+                        // by @mrpi PR #588
                         if ( ( c < '\x09' ) || ( c > '\x0D' && c < '\x20') || c=='\x7F' )
-                            os << "&#x" << std::uppercase << std::hex << static_cast<int>( c );
+                            os << "&#x" << std::uppercase << std::hex << std::setfill('0') << std::setw(2) << static_cast<int>( c ) << ';';
                         else
                             os << c;
                 }
@@ -112,13 +113,20 @@ namespace Catch {
         :   m_tagIsOpen( false ),
             m_needsNewline( false ),
             m_os( &Catch::cout() )
-        {}
+        {
+            // We encode control characters, which requires
+            // XML 1.1
+            // see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/404107/why-are-control-characters-illegal-in-xml-1-0
+            *m_os << "<?xml version=\"1.1\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n";
+        }
 
         XmlWriter( std::ostream& os )
         :   m_tagIsOpen( false ),
             m_needsNewline( false ),
             m_os( &os )
-        {}
+        {
+            *m_os << "<?xml version=\"1.1\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>\n";
+        }
 
         ~XmlWriter() {
             while( !m_tags.empty() )
diff --git a/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp b/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
index 9a2a2ab6..bb9cbf0a 100644
--- a/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
+++ b/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
@@ -406,27 +406,27 @@ TEST_CASE( "Tabs and newlines show in output", "[.][whitespace][failing]" ) {
 
 
 TEST_CASE( "toString on const wchar_t const pointer returns the string contents", "[toString]" ) {
-	const wchar_t * const s = L"wide load";
-	std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
-	CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
+        const wchar_t * const s = L"wide load";
+        std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
+        CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
 }
 
 TEST_CASE( "toString on const wchar_t pointer returns the string contents", "[toString]" ) {
-	const wchar_t * s = L"wide load";
-	std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
-	CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
+        const wchar_t * s = L"wide load";
+        std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
+        CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
 }
 
 TEST_CASE( "toString on wchar_t const pointer returns the string contents", "[toString]" ) {
-	wchar_t * const s = const_cast<wchar_t* const>( L"wide load" );
-	std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
-	CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
+        wchar_t * const s = const_cast<wchar_t* const>( L"wide load" );
+        std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
+        CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
 }
 
 TEST_CASE( "toString on wchar_t returns the string contents", "[toString]" ) {
-	wchar_t * s = const_cast<wchar_t*>( L"wide load" );
-	std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
-	CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
+        wchar_t * s = const_cast<wchar_t*>( L"wide load" );
+        std::string result = Catch::toString( s );
+        CHECK( result == "\"wide load\"" );
 }
 
 inline std::string encode( std::string const& str, Catch::XmlEncode::ForWhat forWhat = Catch::XmlEncode::ForTextNodes ) {
@@ -458,10 +458,10 @@ TEST_CASE( "XmlEncode" ) {
         REQUIRE( encode( stringWithQuotes, Catch::XmlEncode::ForAttributes ) == "don't &quot;quote&quot; me on that" );
     }
     SECTION( "string with control char (1)" ) {
-        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x01]" ) == "[&#x1]" );
+        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x01]" ) == "[&#x01;]" );
     }
     SECTION( "string with control char (x7F)" ) {
-        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x7F]" ) == "[&#x7F]" );
+        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x7F]" ) == "[&#x7F;]" );
     }
 }