Washington, Mar 6 : 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)