diff --git a/gramps/gen/simple/_simpletable.py b/gramps/gen/simple/_simpletable.py
index 2999a7cab..c35a1ec9b 100644
--- a/gramps/gen/simple/_simpletable.py
+++ b/gramps/gen/simple/_simpletable.py
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class SimpleTable(object):
             if y is None: 
                 return False # no markup for this column
             else:
-                return data
+                return conv_to_unicode_direct(data)
 
     def get_cell_type(self, col):
         """