diff --git a/core/tests/UrlsTest.php b/core/tests/UrlsTest.php
index 4f766ef9..a9ab2268 100644
--- a/core/tests/UrlsTest.php
+++ b/core/tests/UrlsTest.php
@@ -128,6 +128,20 @@ class UrlsTest extends TestCase
             'http://$SERVER/$INSTALL_DIR/index.php?q=$PATH should return $PATH'
         );
 
+        // even when we are /test/... publicly, and generating /test/... URLs,
+        // we should still be able to handle URLs at the root because that's
+        // what apache sends us when it is reverse-proxying a subdirectory
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            "tasty/cake",
+            _get_query("/tasty/cake"),
+            'http://$SERVER/$INSTALL_DIR/$PATH should return $PATH'
+        );
+        $this->assertEquals(
+            "tasty/cake",
+            _get_query("/index.php?q=tasty/cake"),
+            'http://$SERVER/$INSTALL_DIR/index.php?q=$PATH should return $PATH'
+        );
+
         $this->assertEquals(
             "tasty/cake%20pie",
             _get_query("/test/index.php?q=tasty/cake%20pie"),
diff --git a/core/urls.php b/core/urls.php
index 4482f387..8208dd5b 100644
--- a/core/urls.php
+++ b/core/urls.php
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ function _get_query(?string $uri = null): string
     // if we're looking at http://site.com/$INSTALL_DIR/$PAGE,
     // then get the query from the path
     else {
-        $base = get_base_href() . "/";
+        $base = get_base_href();
         $q = $parsed_url["path"] ?? "";
 
         // sometimes our public URL is /img/foo/bar but after
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ function _get_query(?string $uri = null): string
         if (str_starts_with($q, $base)) {
             $q = substr($q, strlen($base));
         }
+
+        // whether we are /img/foo/bar or /foo/bar, we still
+        // want to remove the leading slash
+        $q = ltrim($q, "/");
     }
 
     assert(!str_starts_with($q, "/"));