Gustav III of Sweden - Assassination

Assassination

A masked ball took place at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on 16 March 1792. Gustav had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that contained a threat to his life, but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it, and, after dining, left his rooms to take part in the masquerade.

Soon upon entering, he was surrounded by Anckarström and his co-conspirators Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. The king was easily spotted, mainly due to the breast star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim which glowed in silver upon his cape. The conspirators were all wearing black masks and accosted him in French with the words:

Bonjour, beau masque ("Good-day, fine mask")

Anckarström moved behind the King and fired a pistol-shot into the left side of his back. The King jumped aside, crying in French:

Ah! Je suis blessé, tirez-moi d'ici et arrêtez-le ("Ah! I am wounded, take me away from here and arrest him!")

The King was carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning, and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.

The king had not been shot dead, but was alive, and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected and on 29 March he finally died, his last words being:

Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott ("I feel sleepy, a few moments rest would do me good")

Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction about it in 1786 when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence, but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and was in fact interrogated about the murder.