The Royal Armoury

This guide to the Royal Armoury in Stockholm opens at a costume ball inside the Royal Opera on the night of March 16, 1792, where King Gustav III shrugged off weeks of anonymous warnings and a friend's pleas to stay home, and walked in anyway among a ring of noblemen with a grudge. It follows what became of the clothes he wore that night, and reaches back further to an earlier king whose own battle-torn coats first gave this museum its purpose. Stand at the case where that night's garments are kept before you listen.