The Scarlet Pimpernel the love story and conflict of loyalties. Dugan says that "Behind the wigs and Mechlin lace cuffs lies an enduring human story of love, misunderstandings, conflict of loyalties, audacious bravery – and a dramatic double life." and this is a major part of the story's enduring popularity. Another aspect is the "Englishness" of the hero in the era when the British Empire began to shrink. As a writer, Orczy often alluded to historical events and figures but adapted these freely in creating her tales. Citizen Chauvelin, the recurring villain of the "Scarlet Pimpernel" series, is based to some extent on
The Scarlet Pimpernel told in "American Pimpernel: The Man Who Saved the Artists on Hitler's Death List". Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irish priest who saved thousands of people, British and American servicemen and Jews, during World War II while in the Vatican in Rome. His story is told in two books and a film: Harald Edelstam (1913–1989) was a Swedish diplomat. During World War II, he earned the nickname "Svarta nejlikan" ("the Black Pimpernel") for helping Norwegian resistance fighters in escape from the Germans. Stationed in Chile in the 1970s, he arranged for the escape of numerous refugees from the military junta