diff --git a/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp b/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
index 945dc667e1..8416a1655c 100644
--- a/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
+++ b/src/rpc/blockchain.cpp
@@ -897,8 +897,8 @@ static UniValue getblockheader(const JSONRPCRequest& request)
                     {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "difficulty", "The difficulty"},
                     {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "chainwork", "Expected number of hashes required to produce the current chain"},
                     {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "nTx", "The number of transactions in the block"},
-                    {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "previousblockhash", "The hash of the previous block"},
-                    {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "nextblockhash", "The hash of the next block"},
+                    {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "previousblockhash", /* optional */ true, "The hash of the previous block (if available)"},
+                    {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "nextblockhash", /* optional */ true, "The hash of the next block (if available)"},
                 }},
             RPCResult{"for verbose=false",
                 RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "", "A string that is serialized, hex-encoded data for block 'hash'"},
@@ -970,8 +970,8 @@ static UniValue getblockheaders(const JSONRPCRequest& request)
                         {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "difficulty", "The difficulty"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "chainwork", "Expected number of hashes required to produce the current chain"},
                         {RPCResult::Type::NUM, "nTx", "The number of transactions in the block"},
-                        {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "previousblockhash", "The hash of the previous block"},
-                        {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "nextblockhash", "The hash of the next block"},
+                        {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "previousblockhash", /* optional */ true, "The hash of the previous block (if available)"},
+                        {RPCResult::Type::STR_HEX, "nextblockhash", /* optional */ true, "The hash of the next block (if available)"},
                     }},
                 }},
             RPCResult{"for verbose=false",
diff --git a/test/functional/rpc_blockchain.py b/test/functional/rpc_blockchain.py
index ef36ae4f12..699b297f47 100755
--- a/test/functional/rpc_blockchain.py
+++ b/test/functional/rpc_blockchain.py
@@ -326,6 +326,9 @@ class BlockchainTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         header.calc_sha256()
         assert_equal(header.hash, besthash)
 
+        assert 'previousblockhash' not in node.getblockheader(node.getblockhash(0))
+        assert 'nextblockhash' not in node.getblockheader(node.getbestblockhash())
+
     def _test_getdifficulty(self):
         difficulty = self.nodes[0].getdifficulty()
         # 1 hash in 2 should be valid, so difficulty should be 1/2**31