The king had not been shot dead; he is alive and continues to function as head of state.

The coup is a failure in the short run. However, the wound has become infected, and on March 29, the king finally dies with these last words:

    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 of his assassination 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 she is in fact interrogated about the murder.

Gustav Adolf succeeds to his fathers' throne at the age of fourteen, under the regency of his uncle, Charles, duke of Södermanland, who will later become King Charles XIII of Sweden when his nephew is forced to abdicate and flee the country in 1809.