She beat Sir Paul McCartney, Dame Julie Andrews, Baroness Thatcher and Robbie Williams to the award at the first "Greatest Britons 2007" ceremony on Monday night.

The Queen was not present to collect the award, voted by ITV1 viewers, but her son Prince Edward paid tribute to his mother via a video transmission.

Dame Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar earlier this year for her portrayal of the Queen, took the prize in the Film category.

And David Beckham flew in from Spain to pick up the award for Global Achievement. The football star and Dame Helen looked delighted to bump into each other on the red carpet, with the film star exclaiming: "Oh my God, how exciting!" as they posed together for photos.

Prime Minister-in-waiting Gordon Brown also made an appearance at the ceremony, held at the London Studios, where he presented founders of the company Innocent Drinks with the Business award.

Other winners included graffiti artist Banksy in the Arts category, and Amy Winehouse beat Sir Elton John and Take That to the award for Music.

Adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes - the first man to reach both the north and south poles by land - won in the Sports category.

Ricky Gervais landed the TV award, which he accepted via video in America - performing a version of his infamous dance from comedy series The Office. Designer Giles Deacon won the gong for Fashion and Duncan Goose, of Global Ethics Ltd, was chosen top Campaigner.

The ceremony, produced by ITV1 in association with The Sun newspaper and Marks & Spencer, was hosted by former X Factor presenter, Kate Thornton.