diff --git a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/wysiwyg/plugin/font.js b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/wysiwyg/plugin/font.js
index 91ac93470ba..c52712d7a02 100644
--- a/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/wysiwyg/plugin/font.js
+++ b/addons/web_editor/static/src/js/wysiwyg/plugin/font.js
@@ -549,6 +549,9 @@ registry.addJob(function (wysiwyg) {
             context: options.context,
         },
     }).then(function (template) {
+        if (!/^<templates>/.test(template)) {
+            template = _.str.sprintf('<templates>%s</templates>', template);
+        }
         QWeb.add_template(template);
     });
 });
diff --git a/addons/website/static/src/js/widgets/theme.js b/addons/website/static/src/js/widgets/theme.js
index 7a3ef777232..de771132784 100644
--- a/addons/website/static/src/js/widgets/theme.js
+++ b/addons/website/static/src/js/widgets/theme.js
@@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ var ThemeCustomizeDialog = Dialog.extend({
                 method: 'read_template',
                 args: ['website.theme_customize'],
             }).then(function (data) {
+                if (!/^<templates>/.test(data)) {
+                    data = _.str.sprintf('<templates>%s</templates>', data);
+                }
                 return core.qweb.add_template(data);
             });
         }
diff --git a/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_qweb.py b/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_qweb.py
index 2e4070d2665..03bb225a655 100644
--- a/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_qweb.py
+++ b/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_qweb.py
@@ -129,11 +129,11 @@ class IrQWeb(models.AbstractModel, QWeb):
             return view.inherit_id is not None
 
         if isinstance(name, int) or is_child_view(name):
-            for node in etree.fromstring(template):
+            view = etree.fromstring(template)
+            for node in view:
                 if node.get('t-name'):
                     node.set('t-name', str(name))
-                    return node.getparent()
-            return None  # trigger "template not found" in QWeb
+            return view
         else:
             return template
 
diff --git a/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_ui_view.py b/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_ui_view.py
index d8a15f000d9..f07a045c4a5 100644
--- a/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_ui_view.py
+++ b/odoo/addons/base/models/ir_ui_view.py
@@ -1161,8 +1161,7 @@ actual arch.
         arch = self.browse(view_id).read_combined(['arch'])['arch']
         arch_tree = etree.fromstring(arch)
         self.distribute_branding(arch_tree)
-        root = E.templates(arch_tree)
-        arch = etree.tostring(root, encoding='unicode')
+        arch = etree.tostring(arch_tree, encoding='unicode')
         return arch
 
     @api.model
diff --git a/odoo/addons/base/models/qweb.py b/odoo/addons/base/models/qweb.py
index d8b1a3cdde2..fa1b20e147f 100644
--- a/odoo/addons/base/models/qweb.py
+++ b/odoo/addons/base/models/qweb.py
@@ -358,20 +358,21 @@ class QWeb(object):
             except Exception as e:
                 raise QWebException("load could not load template", name=template)
 
-        if document is not None:
-            if isinstance(document, etree._Element):
-                element = document
-                document = etree.tostring(document)
-            elif not document.strip().startswith('<') and os.path.exists(document):
-                element = etree.parse(document).getroot()
-            else:
-                element = etree.fromstring(document)
+        if document is None:
+            raise QWebException("Template not found", name=template)
 
-            for node in element:
-                if node.get('t-name') == str(template):
-                    return (node, document)
+        if isinstance(document, etree._Element):
+            element = document
+            document = etree.tostring(document)
+        elif not document.strip().startswith('<') and os.path.exists(document):
+            element = etree.parse(document).getroot()
+        else:
+            element = etree.fromstring(document)
 
-        raise QWebException("Template not found", name=template)
+        for node in element:
+            if node.get('t-name') == str(template):
+                return (node, document)
+        return (element, document)
 
     def load(self, template, options):
         """ Load a given template. """