Professor Irene Tracey, the university’s vice chancellor, added: “William is a great friend to Oxford and is someone who I know will serve and represent this magnificent institution with dignity and vigour.”

Lord Hague, who studied Politics Philosophy and Economics, was president of the Oxford Union, the university’s esteemed debating society, during his time as a student.

He went on to become a darling of Conservative politics in the 1990s, and became the party’s leader in 1997 – at the age of just 36.

But he resigned from that position in 2001, after a heavy election defeat to Tony Blair’s New Labour.

Nine years later, he found himself back in government for the first time since the 1990s – this time as foreign secretary, a role he held for four years.

He retired from frontline politics in 2015, after 26 years as the MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire.