The Princess Sophia by EF Benson (1900)

This novel is Benson's attempt at his own spin on Ruritania, which had been made popular, to put it mildly, by the phenomenal success of Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda earlier this decade. It is Bensonian in that it is light in tone, lacking what I take to be (haven't read it yet) the serious historical element in Hope's work. Sophia is reigning in Rhodope, which roughly coincides with the bottom third of Albania, and is an inveterate gambler. After foiling a pretty unbelievable plot by her dashing but rather limited prince and her prime minister in a delightfully dramatic way, she realises that her son Leonard needs to be protected from the gambling instinct prevalent in him through simply being her child! He is sent off to Eton and then round the world on improving travels, she resumes her frequent trips to Monte Carlo on her royal yacht, and also gambles at the club she has established in the gardens of Rhodope's royal palace. One stormy night in Monte, an incognito Leonard proves himself a force at the tables, reveals himself, and manages to win the throne of their country from his mother as their highest stake! Fantastic madness, followed by an epilogue describing his benevolent reign which returns Rhodope to its former brilliance (by banning all gambling), which had been dulled by Sophia's introduction of the fascinating but morally enervating games of chance. Enormous fun, even though, in its confusion over the attractions and attenuations of gambling, it really doesn't know whether it's Arthur or Martha.