His Majesty's Jacket

Back side view of the jacket King Gustav III wore when he was fatally shot on the 13 March 1792 at the opera ball. The assassinator, Anckarström, pressed the pistol close to the King’s back when he fired the shot, hence the small and charred entrance hole. Count Hans Henric von Essen, who escorted the King, had to put out the fire caused by the shot.

The jacket's design follows the so-called national dress fashioned by King Gustav and the artist Jean Eric Rehn in 1778.