PJ Harvey picks up her second Mercury Prize

The 41-year-old triumphed with her eight album Let England Shake. The record, which was inspired by the horrors of war in modern conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, was the bookmakers’ favourite.

Polly Jean Harvey beat acts such as chart-topper Adele and Brit-winning star Tinie Tempah to the £20,000 prize. She previously won the Mercury on 11 September, 2001, for Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea but was uanble to collect it as she was trapped in Washington DC following the terrorist attacks on the US that day.

Collecting the prize she said: Last night, she said: “Thank you for the recognition of my work on this album.

“It’s also good to be here this evening. When I last won ten years ago on September 11, 2001 I was watching the Pentagon burning from my hotel window.

“So much has happened since then. This album took me a long time to write. It was very important to me. I wanted to make something meaningful, not just for myself but for other people and, hopefully, to make something that would last.”

The album features graphic lyrics about warfare and unusually includes the prominent use of an autoharp, played by Harvey. Let England Shake was recorded in a 19th century church in Dorset and features long-time collaborators Flood, John Parish and Mick Harvey It was released on Island Records in February 2011 and includes the singles Words that Maketh Murder’ and The Glorious Land.

Harvey wore a full-length white dress with a white leather bodice shaped like a strait-jacket – the design of which had been inspired by her album – to attend the ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

She said of the dress: “I worked very closely with a designer who’s a friend of mine … and she listened a lot to the music and talked a lot about what felt right for the band and myself to be wearing on stage and we created three or four outfits, one of which I’m wearing tonight.”

The singer, born in Bridport, Dorset, has described herself as “an extremely quiet person, who doesn’t go out much, doesn’t talk to people”.

She has previously received seven Brit Award nominations, six Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her 1992’s Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter and 1995’s Artist of the Year, and listed Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love (1995) on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.

Earlier the singer backed her fellow female nominees and said: “I really like Adele’s voice and I find her singing very moving, so I’d be happy if she won. Anna Calvi is an artist who will really develop, and go on from here. She’s got a long way to go and she has an amazing voice.”

Among the 12 albums nominated for the prestigious prize was Scottish folk-indie supremo King Creosote. Kenny Anderson from Fife, aka King Creosote, paired with Jon Hopkins for Diamond Mine, presenting a personal portrait of life in a fishing village in the kingdom.

Other nominees included chart stars Katy B, who wore a figure-hugging maxi dress, former winners Elbow, James Blake, Everything, Everything, Ghost poet, Metronomy and Gwiilym Simcock.

Adele skipped the red carpet to go straight into the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The Someone Like You singer has cancelled two concerts this week due to a chest infection.