diff --git a/src/core/layout/qgslayout.cpp b/src/core/layout/qgslayout.cpp
index 3b534e01623..62ad3e59e3f 100644
--- a/src/core/layout/qgslayout.cpp
+++ b/src/core/layout/qgslayout.cpp
@@ -835,10 +835,13 @@ QList< QgsLayoutItem * > QgsLayout::addItemsFromXml( const QDomElement &parentEl
     }
   }
 
-  const QDomNodeList layoutItemList = parentElement.elementsByTagName( QStringLiteral( "LayoutItem" ) );
+  const QDomNodeList layoutItemList = parentElement.childNodes();
   for ( int i = 0; i < layoutItemList.size(); ++i )
   {
     const QDomElement currentItemElem = layoutItemList.at( i ).toElement();
+    if ( currentItemElem.nodeName() != QStringLiteral( "LayoutItem" ) )
+      continue;
+
     const int itemType = currentItemElem.attribute( QStringLiteral( "type" ) ).toInt();
     std::unique_ptr< QgsLayoutItem > item( QgsApplication::layoutItemRegistry()->createItem( itemType, this ) );
     if ( !item )
diff --git a/tests/src/python/test_qgslayout.py b/tests/src/python/test_qgslayout.py
index dca2540ee25..a911215debc 100644
--- a/tests/src/python/test_qgslayout.py
+++ b/tests/src/python/test_qgslayout.py
@@ -222,6 +222,7 @@ class TestQgsLayout(unittest.TestCase):
 
         p = QgsProject()
         l = QgsLayout(p)
+        l.initializeDefaults()
 
         # add some items
         item1 = QgsLayoutItemLabel(l)
@@ -285,11 +286,10 @@ class TestQgsLayout(unittest.TestCase):
         # clearing existing items
         new_items3, ok = l2.loadFromTemplate(doc, QgsReadWriteContext(), True)
         self.assertTrue(ok)
-        self.assertEqual(len(new_items3), 2)
+        self.assertEqual(len(new_items3), 3) # includes page
         items = l2.items()
-        self.assertEqual(len(items), 2)
-        self.assertTrue([i for i in items if i.id() == 'xxyyxx'])
-        self.assertTrue([i for i in items if i.id() == 'zzyyzz'])
+        self.assertTrue([i for i in items if isinstance(i, QgsLayoutItem) and i.id() == 'xxyyxx'])
+        self.assertTrue([i for i in items if isinstance(i, QgsLayoutItem) and i.id() == 'zzyyzz'])
         self.assertTrue(new_items3[0] in l2.items())
         self.assertTrue(new_items3[1] in l2.items())
         self.assertIn(new_items3[0].templateUuid(), original_uuids)