Other Ruritanian Settings in Fiction
The countries of Syldavia and Borduria, in "The Adventures of Tintin" are clearly literary descendants of Ruritania, this origin especially accentuated by the classical Ruritarian plot device of identical twins - one good, the other bad - used to resolve a mystery in King Ottokar's Sceptre.
Eric Ambler's 1936 novel "The Dark Frontier", taking place at the fictional East European country of Ixania, both uses and parodies the main elements of this sub-genre. And its influence is also evident in the first scenes of Charlie Chaplin's 1957 movie A King in New York, where King Igor Shahdov is dethroned and escapes his unnamed country for America. The sinister Crown Prince Rudolf, whose country is never named and who confronts Simon Templar in several books of the 1930s also has Ruritanian overtones.
In an odd take on the genre, the 1956 British sci-fi movie The Gamma People is set in Gudavia, a Ruritanian-style central European dictatorship.
Latveria, ruled by Doctor Doom in the Marvel Comics Universe, is a recognisable late addition to the genre - with the manifest anachronism of the series placing an absolute monarchy in post-World War II Europe.
In the 1938 story Biggles goes to war, the epynomous World War I pilot Biggles was approached by Maltovia to set up an Air Force to protect them from their neighbour Lovitzna, both Ruritanian-style central European countries.
In the 1967 story The Mystery of the Silver Spider, the Three Investigators befriended Prince Djaro from Varania, a Ruritanian-style central European monarchy, during his visit to the United States. To ensure successful coronation of the Prince, and hence prevent Varania from falling under the Eastern Bloc, the United States government despatch the Three Investigators to Varania.
Read more about this topic: Ruritanian Romance
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