The Prisoner of Zenda is an
adventure novel by
Anthony Hope, published in 1894. The king of the fictional country of
Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his coronation must go forward. An English gentleman on holiday, who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his
political decoy in an attempt to save the situation. The villainous Rupert of Hentzau gave his name
to the sequel published in 1898, which is included in some editions of this novel. The books were extremely popular and inspired the new genre of
Ruritanian romance, including the
Graustark novels by
George Barr McCutcheon.