diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
index 5f8dcde9..4491b44d 100644
--- a/HISTORY
+++ b/HISTORY
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 5.3.1   2022-??-??
         repmgrd: fixes for potential connection leaks (hslightdb)
+        standby clone: don't error out if unable to determine cluster size (Ian)
 
 5.3.0   2021-10-12
         standby switchover: improve handling of node rejoin failure (Ian)
diff --git a/dbutils.c b/dbutils.c
index 4806c497..0275bbde 100644
--- a/dbutils.c
+++ b/dbutils.c
@@ -1291,21 +1291,16 @@ get_cluster_size(PGconn *conn, char *size)
 	initPQExpBuffer(&query);
 	appendPQExpBufferStr(&query,
 						 "SELECT pg_catalog.pg_size_pretty(pg_catalog.sum(pg_catalog.pg_database_size(oid))::bigint) "
-						 "	 FROM pg_catalog.pg_database ");
+						 "  FROM pg_catalog.pg_database ");
 
 	log_verbose(LOG_DEBUG, "get_cluster_size():\n%s", query.data);
 
 	res = PQexec(conn, query.data);
 
 	if (PQresultStatus(res) != PGRES_TUPLES_OK)
-	{
-		log_db_error(conn, query.data, _("get_cluster_size(): unable to execute query"));
 		success = false;
-	}
 	else
-	{
 		snprintf(size, MAXLEN, "%s", PQgetvalue(res, 0, 0));
-	}
 
 	termPQExpBuffer(&query);
 	PQclear(res);
diff --git a/doc/appendix-release-notes.xml b/doc/appendix-release-notes.xml
index 347c0564..1ce2e1e9 100644
--- a/doc/appendix-release-notes.xml
+++ b/doc/appendix-release-notes.xml
@@ -14,10 +14,35 @@
   <para>
     See also: <xref linkend="upgrading-repmgr"/>
   </para>
+  <sect1 id="release-5.3.2">
+    <title id="release-current">Release 5.3.2</title>
+    <para><emphasis>??? ??? ???, 2022</emphasis></para>
+     <para>
+      &repmgr; 5.3.2 is a minor release.
+    </para>
+    <sect2>
+      <title>Bug fixes</title>
+      <para>
+        <itemizedlist>
+          <listitem>
+            <para>
+              <command><link linkend="repmgr-standby-clone">repmgr standby clone</link></command>:
+              don't treat inability to determine the cluster size as a fatal error.
+            </para>
+            <para>
+              The cluster size is displayed for informational purposes and is not essential
+              for execution of the clone operation. As the &repmgr; user may not have permissions
+              for all databases in the cluster, ignore the cluster size query if it fails.
+            </para>
+          </listitem>
+        </itemizedlist>
+      </para>
+    </sect2>
+  </sect1>
 
 <!-- remember to update the release date in ../repmgr_version.h.in -->
   <sect1 id="release-5.3.1">
-    <title id="release-current">Release 5.3.1</title>
+    <title>Release 5.3.1</title>
     <para><emphasis>Tue 15 February, 2022</emphasis></para>
     <para>
       &repmgr; 5.3.1 is a minor release.
diff --git a/repmgr-action-standby.c b/repmgr-action-standby.c
index 6e10f152..ec0031f8 100644
--- a/repmgr-action-standby.c
+++ b/repmgr-action-standby.c
@@ -5783,20 +5783,18 @@ check_source_server()
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * If a connection was established, perform some sanity checks on the
-	 * provided upstream connection.
+	 * The server version check will also serve as a sanity-check that we can
+	 * actually execute queries on this connection.
 	 */
-
 	source_server_version_num = check_server_version(source_conn, "primary", true, NULL);
 
 	/*
-	 * It's not essential to know the cluster size, but useful to sanity-check
-	 * we can actually run a query before going any further.
+	 * The cluster size is nice to have, but not essential to know, so only display
+	 * something if the user has sufficient permissions to retrieve the size of
+	 * all databases.
 	 */
-	if (get_cluster_size(source_conn, cluster_size) == false)
-		exit(ERR_DB_QUERY);
-
-	log_detail(_("current installation size is %s"),
+	if (get_cluster_size(source_conn, cluster_size) == true)
+		log_detail(_("current installation size is %s"),
 			   cluster_size);
 
 	/*