The Prisoner of Zenda

Rudolf Rassendyll is a wealthy and idle Englishman whose family carries an old secret — generations earlier, a Ruritanian prince visited London and left a child in their line. Rudolf has inherited the prince's red hair, long sharp nose, and tall frame. He decides, on a whim, to travel to the small Central European kingdom of Ruritania to watch the coronation of his distant cousin, King Rudolf the Fifth.

In the forest of Zenda the night before the coronation, Rudolf meets two of the King's officers, Colonel Sapt and Fritz von Tarlenheim. They are astonished — he and the King could be twins. They take him to the King's hunting lodge for a friendly dinner. The King's half-brother, Duke Michael — known as Black Michael — has sent a bottle of wine; the wine is drugged, and in the morning the King cannot be woken. Sapt sees the throne already half-lost. He convinces Rudolf to take the King's place at the coronation in Strelsau.

The deception succeeds. Rudolf is crowned, meets the King's beautiful cousin Princess Flavia (who is meant to marry the King), and rides back to the lodge to swap places — only to find that the real King has been kidnapped by Michael and carried to the Castle of Zenda. Rudolf must keep playing the King, both to deny Michael the throne and to give Sapt time to plan a rescue. Michael cannot expose the impostor without revealing his own crime. The two pretenders are locked in a silent war.

Rudolf falls in love with Princess Flavia, and she with him. As he plots the rescue with the help of Michael's reluctant mistress Antoinette de Mauban, he is hunted by Michael's cruel young lieutenant, Rupert of Hentzau. The campaign ends in a daring midnight assault on the moat and keep of Zenda. The King is freed; Michael is killed; Rupert escapes. Rudolf must give up Flavia — the King must marry her, and Rudolf must vanish from Ruritania forever.