The prince sent his fans into a frenzy when he debuted his fashionable face fuzz in September (15) at a special event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

Now a new survey has placed him at the top of a list of bearded male stars, ahead of last year's (14) winner Beckham and Hollywood hunk George Clooney.

Actors Ben Affleck and Ryan Gosling round out the top five in the survey by the Crown Clinic in Manchester, England, Britain's leading hair transplant centre.

"Prince Harry is a trendsetter for lots of men around the world and the reaction to his beard has been universally positive," says Crown Clinic surgeon Asim Shahmalak.

Male screen stars feature heavily in the rest of the top 10 - Hugh Jackman is in sixth, Brad Pitt is eighth, with Jake Gyllenhaal one place behind in ninth.