Image from Wikimedia Commons. "King Gustav III of Sweden" painted by Alexander Roslin in 1771
On March 16, 1792, King Gustav III was assassinated.
An enlightened despot, King Gustav III of Sweden made several reforms to improve the state of his nation and the lives of his subjects. Among other changes made during his rule, taxes on peasants were reduced, rights were extended to Catholics and Jews, capital punishment was limited, and the Swedish Academy and Royal Swedish Opera were founded. The king also made strides to reduce the power of the nobility, and removed their control of alcohol sales; this angered the nobility, and a conspiracy to assassinate the king was quickly hatched.
On March 16, 1792, King Gustav III had dinner with some close friends, during which he received a written warning that clearly laid out the threat he was facing: there would be an attempt to assassinate him at that night's masked ball at the Opera House. In the letter, Gustav III was urged to cancel and avoid the ball, however he refused to do so and made the fatal decision to attend the ball.
Identified at the masquerade by a royal emblem he wore, Gustav III was shot in the back by Jacob Johan Anckarström. While it at first appeared as though the king would survive the shot, his wound became infected and he passed away 13 days later, on March 29, 1792.
All of the conspirators involved in the plot to assassinate the king were arrested, and Anckarström was brutally tortured before being beheaded. The public were impressed by Anckarström's resilience, and he never backed down from the position of being proud to have killed the king. Gustav IV, the son of and successor to Gustav III, was king of Sweden until 1809, at which time he was removed from power by the nobility, a lasting effect of his father's attempts to curb their influence.
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