The Prisoner of Zenda

<br> "<i>The Prisoner of Zenda</i> is an 1894 adventure novel by Anthony Hope, in which the King of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus is unable to attend the ceremony. ... Fortuitously, an English gentleman on holiday in Ruritania who resembles the monarch is persuaded to act as his political decoy ..." "The popularity of the novels inspired the Ruritanian romance genre of literature, film, and theatre ..." --Wikipedia, novel article (above)

Concerning this novel and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau: Hope's "relevance to sf is indirect though pervasive ... Beyond a plethora of coincidences and doublings, and a dream-like sense of magic enablement, there is nothing inherently fantasticated in Hope's actual tales, beyond the fact that Ruritania does not exist." -- SFE3, biographical entry by John Clute

Set in Ruritania – the original. "Ruritania is a fictional country, originally located in central Europe as a setting for novels by Anthony Hope, such as The Prisoner of Zenda (1894). Nowadays the term connotes a quaint minor European country, or is used as a placeholder name for an unspecified country in academic discussions." --Wikipedia, "Ruritania"