Upon the death of his father the King, Rudolph V is set to assume the throne of Ruritania. Both he and his half-brother, Grand Duke Michael, love Princess Flavia, their orphaned cousin who lives in a wing of the palace located in the Ruritanian capital of Strelsau. While half the populace favor the King and the other half the Grand Duke, the entire populace loves Flavia. She is attracted to the Grand Duke's magnetism, but she, in a sense of obligation to her country to support his reign, believes that she will marry the King despite she not being in love with him due to he indulging excessively in his vices, such as the drink, and thus often acting irresponsibly and not in the manner of a king. The Grand Duke, with his longtime faithful companions De Gautet, Bersonin, Detchard, and Rupert of Hentzau, plan to detain the King at the Grand Duke's hunting lodge on the grounds of his castle at Zenda on the day of the coronation so that Michael can assume the throne in Strelsau in his place. Complicating this plan is the arrival into Ruritania of British gentry Rudolf Rassendyll the day before the coronation, he having been fascinated with everything Ruritanian ever since he learned of the purported blood connection between the English Rassendylls and the Ruritanian royal family, the Elphbergs. The complicating factor is that Rassendyll bears a striking resemblance to the King. Upon meeting Rassendyll, two of the King's faithful aides, Colonel Zapt and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim, ask him, due to the extenuating circumstances, to impersonate the King at the coronation, to which Rassendyll reluctantly agrees. Further complicating the situation is that Rassendyll, as the King, falls immediately in love with Flavia, who in turns falls in love with the new man she believes the King has transformed into. Beyond the dangers posed to the King by the Grand Duke and his men, Rassendyll's life, by association is also in danger, especially if the Grand Duke discovers the switched identities. The wild card in this maze is Parisienne Antoinette de Mauban, also in Ruritania for the coronation, she who personally knows Rassendyll, who is love with the Grand Duke herself but does not know of his want to marry Flavia, and who is the unrequited object of affection of Rupert.