He adds that he was “impressed” by how much the King knows about plants, trees and woodland crafts.
“I’ve written to him a number of times since and met him a couple of times since, and he’s always interested to know how his tree is doing,” the professor says.
The young tree grows just a few feet away from where the original was, with “a magnificent view” of the Great Tower of Magdalen College.
“It’s within a part that we call the Literary Garden because it details plants that are associated with English literature mainly, and often authors, poets, writers from Oxford,” Prof Hiscock says.
He adds that it is about 20ft (6m) tall now, meaning it is growing “very, very quickly”.
“It’s in what you might call juvenile phase at the moment, so it looks like a big Christmas tree.
“That will all change as it continues its development and starts to branch out.
“But in 100 years it’ll start looking really good.”
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