diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlParser.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlParser.scala
index b17e89b536103..00497c1c31f35 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlParser.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/xml/StaxXmlParser.scala
@@ -544,6 +544,11 @@ class StaxXmlParser(
         case ShortType => castTo(value, ShortType)
         case IntegerType => signSafeToInt(value)
         case dt: DecimalType => castTo(value, dt)
+        case VariantType =>
+          val builder = new VariantBuilder(false)
+          StaxXmlParser.appendXMLCharacterToVariant(builder, value, options)
+          val v = builder.result()
+          new VariantVal(v.getValue, v.getMetadata)
         case _ => throw new SparkIllegalArgumentException(
           errorClass = "_LEGACY_ERROR_TEMP_3246",
           messageParameters = Map("dataType" -> dataType.toString))
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlVariantSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlVariantSuite.scala
index 505aa15b34872..63b816ad6b53a 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlVariantSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/xml/XmlVariantSuite.scala
@@ -418,7 +418,9 @@ class XmlVariantSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSparkSession with TestXmlData
     val df = createDSLDataFrame(
       fileName = "books-complicated.xml",
       schemaDDL = Some(
-        "_id string, author string, title string, " +
+        "_id variant, " + // Attribute as variant
+        "author string, " +
+        "title string, " +
         "genre struct<genreid int, name variant>, " + // Struct with variant
         "price variant, " + // Scalar as variant
         "publish_dates struct<publish_date array<variant>>" // Array with variant
@@ -427,11 +429,16 @@ class XmlVariantSuite extends QueryTest with SharedSparkSession with TestXmlData
     )
     checkAnswer(
       df.select(
+        variant_get(col("_id"), "$", "string"),
         variant_get(col("genre.name"), "$", "string"),
         variant_get(col("price"), "$", "double"),
         variant_get(col("publish_dates.publish_date").getItem(0), "$.month", "int")
       ),
-      Seq(Row("Computer", 44.95, 10), Row("Fantasy", 5.95, 12), Row("Fantasy", null, 11))
+      Seq(
+        Row("bk101", "Computer", 44.95, 10),
+        Row("bk102", "Fantasy", 5.95, 12),
+        Row("bk103", "Fantasy", null, 11)
+      )
     )
   }