diff --git a/DuckDB.NET.Data/DuckDBCommand.cs b/DuckDB.NET.Data/DuckDBCommand.cs
index 548c5747..48fa3720 100644
--- a/DuckDB.NET.Data/DuckDBCommand.cs
+++ b/DuckDB.NET.Data/DuckDBCommand.cs
@@ -164,7 +164,11 @@ public async IAsyncEnumerable<RecordBatch> ExecuteArrowBatchesAsync([EnumeratorC
         }
     }
 
-    public override void Prepare() { }
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Statements are prepared when the command executes, so this only checks what IDbCommand.Prepare documents:
+    /// InvalidOperationException when "The Connection is not set. -or- The Connection is not Open()."
+    /// </summary>
+    public override void Prepare() => EnsureConnectionOpen();
 
     protected override DbParameter CreateDbParameter() => new DuckDBParameter();
 
diff --git a/DuckDB.NET.Test/DuckDBCommandTests.cs b/DuckDB.NET.Test/DuckDBCommandTests.cs
index 1b58d831..1b1b31c2 100644
--- a/DuckDB.NET.Test/DuckDBCommandTests.cs
+++ b/DuckDB.NET.Test/DuckDBCommandTests.cs
@@ -24,4 +24,17 @@ public void CommandTypeDefaultsToText()
     {
         new DuckDBCommand().CommandType.Should().Be(CommandType.Text);
     }
+
+    // https://learn.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/system.data.idbcommand.prepare, Exceptions: InvalidOperationException,
+    // "The Connection is not set. -or- The Connection is not Open()."
+    [Fact]
+    public void PrepareThrowsWithoutAnOpenConnection()
+    {
+        new DuckDBCommand("SELECT 1").Invoking(c => c.Prepare()).Should().Throw<InvalidOperationException>();
+
+        using var closed = new DuckDBConnection(DuckDBConnectionStringBuilder.InMemoryConnectionString);
+        new DuckDBCommand("SELECT 1", closed).Invoking(c => c.Prepare()).Should().Throw<InvalidOperationException>();
+
+        new DuckDBCommand("SELECT 1", Connection).Invoking(c => c.Prepare()).Should().NotThrow();
+    }
 }