diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 31ce3911..2cac5fe5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 - Fixed Text.expand_tabs not expanding spans.
 - Fixed TimeElapsedColumn from showing negative.
 - Fix for escaping strings with a trailing backslash https://github.com/Textualize/rich/issues/2987
+- Fixed exception in Markdown with partial table https://github.com/Textualize/rich/issues/3053 
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/rich/markdown.py b/rich/markdown.py
index e2cedfaa..3ab4af0e 100644
--- a/rich/markdown.py
+++ b/rich/markdown.py
@@ -259,10 +259,10 @@ class TableElement(MarkdownElement):
         for column in self.header.row.cells:
             table.add_column(column.content)
 
-        assert self.body is not None
-        for row in self.body.rows:
-            row_content = [element.content for element in row.cells]
-            table.add_row(*row_content)
+        if self.body is not None:
+            for row in self.body.rows:
+                row_content = [element.content for element in row.cells]
+                table.add_row(*row_content)
 
         yield table
 
diff --git a/tests/test_markdown.py b/tests/test_markdown.py
index 861665cf..1321dcea 100644
--- a/tests/test_markdown.py
+++ b/tests/test_markdown.py
@@ -133,6 +133,14 @@ def test_markdown_table():
     assert result == expected
 
 
+def test_partial_table():
+    markdown = Markdown("| Simple | Table |\n| ------ | ----- ")
+    result = render(markdown)
+    print(repr(result))
+    expected = "\n                  \n \x1b[1m \x1b[0m\x1b[1mSimple\x1b[0m\x1b[1m \x1b[0m \x1b[1m \x1b[0m\x1b[1mTable\x1b[0m\x1b[1m \x1b[0m \n ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ \n                  \n"
+    assert result == expected
+
+
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     markdown = Markdown(MARKDOWN)
     rendered = render(markdown)