diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/3052_proxmox_inventory_plugin.yml b/changelogs/fragments/3052_proxmox_inventory_plugin.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dfd4dddea9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/3052_proxmox_inventory_plugin.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - proxmox inventory plugin - fixed plugin failure when a ``qemu`` guest has no ``template`` key (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/3052).
diff --git a/plugins/inventory/proxmox.py b/plugins/inventory/proxmox.py
index 92a1ad4997..951339a9bf 100644
--- a/plugins/inventory/proxmox.py
+++ b/plugins/inventory/proxmox.py
@@ -386,7 +386,7 @@ class InventoryModule(BaseInventoryPlugin, Constructable, Cacheable):
                 node_qemu_group = self.to_safe('%s%s' % (self.get_option('group_prefix'), ('%s_qemu' % node['node']).lower()))
                 self.inventory.add_group(node_qemu_group)
                 for qemu in self._get_qemu_per_node(node['node']):
-                    if qemu['template']:
+                    if qemu.get('template'):
                         continue
 
                     self.inventory.add_host(qemu['name'])