diff --git a/include/wx/stringimpl.h b/include/wx/stringimpl.h
index be477a3275..d81185344b 100644
--- a/include/wx/stringimpl.h
+++ b/include/wx/stringimpl.h
@@ -239,6 +239,11 @@ public:
                                                                               \
         pointer m_ptr
 
+  // we need to declare const_iterator in wxStringImpl scope, the friend
+  // declaration inside iterator class itself is not enough, or at least not
+  // for g++ 3.4 (g++ 4 is ok)
+  class const_iterator;
+
   class iterator
   {
     WX_DEFINE_STRINGIMPL_ITERATOR(iterator,