diff --git a/include/wx/regex.h b/include/wx/regex.h
index 800725a3ca..72ee83d5c6 100644
--- a/include/wx/regex.h
+++ b/include/wx/regex.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 #if wxUSE_REGEX
 
-class WXDLLIMPEXP_FWD_BASE wxString;
+#include "wx/string.h"
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // constants
diff --git a/src/common/regex.cpp b/src/common/regex.cpp
index 4a7241e3b0..e5b7bcac24 100644
--- a/src/common/regex.cpp
+++ b/src/common/regex.cpp
@@ -27,9 +27,10 @@
 
 #if wxUSE_REGEX
 
+#include "wx/regex.h"
+
 #ifndef WX_PRECOMP
     #include "wx/object.h"
-    #include "wx/string.h"
     #include "wx/log.h"
     #include "wx/intl.h"
 #endif //WX_PRECOMP
@@ -43,7 +44,6 @@
 #endif
 
 #include <regex.h>
-#include "wx/regex.h"
 
 // WXREGEX_USING_BUILTIN    defined when using the built-in regex lib
 // WXREGEX_USING_RE_SEARCH  defined when using re_search in the GNU regex lib