George Barr McCutcheon

An American meets a young woman on a train from Denver, follows her to a principality in the Balkans he has never heard of, and finds her rank makes marrying her a state matter. McCutcheon invented Graustark in 1901 and with it the whole American vogue for imaginary-kingdom romance - six sequels, several films, and a word that entered the language for any operetta monarchy.