To his credit Cetshwayo took the rejection, bided his time and on 1 September 1873 was crowned king by Theophilus Shepstone after the unusually natural death (for a Zulu monarch) of King Mpande.
In the 1979 film Zulu Dawn, Colenso is portrayed by Freddie Jones, as a sympathetically principled critic of the decision to declare war on Cetshwayo and the Zulus.