He witnessed the assassination of Gustav III
The reason why the police investigation after the assassination of the king was closed
This man is Gustaf Löwenhielm born in 1771. The photo is from the mid 1850s. Gustaf passed in 1856 and was a first hand witness to the murder of king Gustav III.
Gustaf Löwenhielm was an excellent horseman, clarinetist and had also been in the military during the Swedish-Russian war of 1808-1809, had been captured by the Russians and had become acquainted with the Russian tsar Alexander. Plus a whole lot of other events during his long lifetime that put him in the category of Sweden's “Forrest Gump”.
But what made him famous from the beginning was that he was one of Gustav III's closest men at the time of the assassination of the Swedish monarch.
Gustaf Löwenhielm was only 20 years old when he came as a young captain to the royal court. He was a loyal Gustavian, i.e. he did not participate in the conspiracies against the king, but was loyal to the king's last breath.
As is well known, Gustav III was shot during a masquerade ball at the royal opera March 16, 1792. The shot did not kill him outright, but where he lay on the floor wounded, young Gustav Löwenhielm stepped forward and fended off curious onlookers with his sword.
He then helped the wounded king down to the exit where a royal carriage was waiting for transport over the bridge Norrbro to the royal castle. The king was placed in a bed in the parade bedchamber at Stockholm Palace and very soon visitors were queuing up to show the king their sympathy.
The interesting thing is that Gustaf wrote down his experiences and memories so today it is possible to read the story what happened from his point of view.
One question that have puzzled people ever since 1792 can find its answers in his book.
Already on the same evening that the king was shot, a police investigation was started which was very effective and successful. The killer had left the murder weapons at the opera but managed to evade the police cordon, but with the weapons in hand the police sought out the town's gunsmiths and soon they got hold of a gunsmith who recognized the weapons.
They belonged to Captain Jacob Johan Anckarström.
Very soon the conspiracy was revealed. It was a group of nobles who had banded together to assassinate the king. The conspirators were arrested, subjected to harsh interrogations with torture.
The king died on March 29, 1792, and shortly afterwards the investigation was closed. The police and the judiciary were satisfied that the murderer was executed and that some of his closest men were exiled and that the "mastermind" behind the murder plan was put in prison for life.
But the conspiracy was probably much bigger than that, at least a large number of nobles knew that the king was going to be assassinated.
Ever since then, this has puzzled many, that why was the effective police investigation stopped before everyone involved was arrested?
The explanation can be found in Gustaf Löwenhielm's memoirs!
The night before Gustav III finally died of his injuries (March 29, 1792), the king had summoned his brother Duke Karl (later Karl XIII) to explain to him his last will. Gustaf Löwenhielm, as the closest man to the king, was allowed to stay in the same room as the king and his brother while this was said:
"Against my will I have learned the name of the murderer, I want him to be pardoned, yet I know that it is impossible, and that he must die, but his accomplices, whom I have wished to ignore, but who are many, them you pardon life, promise me, Karl, I want it, your king commands you, your brother begs you"
How then should this be interpreted?
If we assume that Löwnhielm's story is correct, it is nevertheless written down several decades after the events, then it is likely that the king wanted to go down in history as a king who showed mercy and that he would not be remembered as the king who was posthumously avenged the entire nobility.
It must also be remembered that this is only a few years after the French Revolution had started, and if all those who participated in the conspiracy or who knew about it were executed, Sweden would probably be thrown into unrest that could have led to revolution in Sweden as well. Such a turn of events had been devastating to his own son Gustav IV Adolf, who was only 13 at the time.
And also:
Probably his own brother Duke Karl also knew about the conspiracy (my interpretation) and if the king's own brother had also been punished or exiled/ executed, this would have made it impossible for the royal dynasty Holstein-Gottorp to continue as royalty in Sweden. The Swedish monarchy had to be saved. Therefore police investigation must be stopped.
So when, after the king's death, Duke Karl very hastily puts an end to the police's work, it is done on a clear and unambiguous call from the king.
Jätteintressant artikel! Har alltid varit fascinerad av händelserna runt maskeradbalen som tog livet av Gustav III. Helt otroligt att det fanns ett vittne till det hela, och att han levde såpass länge att det finns foto av honom.