Cate Blanchett named best reel-life royal

Washington, Mar 6 (ANI): Cate Blancett has been named the best on-screen monarch for her portrayal of English royal Elizabeth I, in a new poll.

The Oscar-winner topped the lovefilm.com survey, held to mark the release of The Young Victoria.

Blanchett narrowly defeated Dame Helen Mirren, who played the role of Elizabeth II in 'The Queen', and landed the second spot in the poll.

Standing at the third position in the survey was Sean Connery for his cameo as King Richard in 1991's 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'.

And wrapping up the top five were Dame Judi Dench for her performance in 'Mrs Brown' (1997) and Anne Hathaway for 'The Princess Diaries'.

"Us Brits are a bunch of royalists at heart, so there's always a lot of anticipation for [The Young Victoria]," Contactmusic quoted Fliss White of lovefilm.com as saying.

She added: "With a huge amount of pressure on the actors to get the portrayal just right, it's a great achievement to see Cate at number one - clearly Emily Blunt has a lot to live up to!"

The top ten film royals are as follows:

1 Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth (1998) - 19 per cent

2 Helen Mirren, The Queen (2006) - 17 per cent

3 Sean Connery, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) - 10 per cent

4 Judi Dench, Mrs Brown (1997) - 9 per cent

5 Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries (2001) - 7 per cent

6 Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love (1998) - 6 per cent

7 Leonardo DiCaprio, The Man in the Iron Mask (1998) - 5 per cent

8 Chris Sarandon, The Princess Bride (1987) - 4 per cent

9 Keira Knightley, The Duchess (2008) - 3 per cent

10 Kenneth Branagh, Henry V (1989) - 2 per cent (ANI)