Head gardner at the palace Alain Baraton said that while the tree only had a few branches remaining, it could have lived for another 30 or 40 years were it not for a two-week heatwave which settled on France early August.

Standing 30 metres (100 feet) high and with a circumfrence of 5.5 metres, the oak was planted around 1682 when King Louis XIV moved his court to Versailles. But it is called Marie-Antoinette's oak because she enjoyed its shade.

TERRA.WIRE