The rosy cheeks, the knowing looks, and the belly laughs were all on display for us to see this week in Cornwall.

Cue an unashamed love-in between the Windsor King and salt-of-the-earth Angela from Stockport.

On the surface, the monarch and his housing minister, Rayner, cut an unlikely couple,

but their clear affection for each other speaks to the enduring success story behind the British monarchy,

one that is all too often overlooked by a middle-class commentariat who have more in common with the prime minister than his deputy.

It’s par for the course that Keir Starmer, (like the Blairs before him), appears a little nonplussed around royalty, (the Queen Mother had no time for Cherie’s “stiff knees”). And during their joint engagement on Monday, our sharp-suited PM certainly looked a little spare, as the trio visited the Dutchy’s modern housing development in Cornwall.

Accusations flew thick and fast. How dare the prime minister embroil the sovereign in his “Build, Baby Build!” campaign. What was the King thinking, exposing himself to potential political bias when the Labour government was clearly seeking to bulldoze its way to success? But, the press were so busy tutting, (and narking about Rayner’s leopard-print brothel creepers) that few of them clocked the real driver behind this unusual collaboration.

Step forward, a deputy prime minister so comfortable in her skin, so blissfully besotted with royalty and so very different from self-made Starmer – these days the personification of bourgeois, a man who has long since shed his tool-making start in life.

But all that education has ironed out Starmer’s capacity to love the illogical, which is what true devotion to monarchy demands. Just ask Rayner.

Along with her genuine flame-haired working-class glow comes an unadulterated appreciation of the finer things in life. This is the woman who got herself out of grinding poverty by becoming a carer to the elderly. No Oxbridge post-grad degree for her.

The prime minister’s faith in King and country – think bulldogs, union jack bunting and a British brew – has withered under too much intellectual scrutiny. Not so Rayner, who is the proud owner of an NVQ Level 2 in social care. She learnt the ropes the hard way, looking after her own mother and bringing up a baby when she was still a child herself. It was basic bread-and-butter stuff that required dreams to keep home fires burning and hope alive. And what better way to prove those dreams have come true than by hanging with the King in a pair of controversial loafers?

By all accounts, it’s no coincidence that Rayner named her son Charlie – and that’s just the start of it. In opposition, our bumptious deputy vociferously pushed back against MP Emma Dent Coad’s accusations that the Windsors were “ridiculous”, and delivered an unapologetic eulogy when the Duke of Edinburgh died. According to the Stockport princess, here was a man who “embodied the values of public service that we all hold dear and cherish”. Crucially Rayner’s abiding faith in the royal family speaks to a broader trend.

For far too long the magic fairy dust of monarchy has been seen as the preserve of the right. President Donald Trump is living proof that when the world is knocked sideways by the (re)arrival of another autocrat, the royal family retains a hypnotic allure even bully boys and strongmen can’t resist. (Lest we forget, Trump thinks William is “really, very handsome”. Far better looking in real life, apparently).

Much less is written about the umbilical cord between the so-called red-wall voters and their deep affection for the monarchy. Once considered Labour’s heartlands, these days many traditional working-class Brits are tempted by Reform UK. Hence all the recent talk of blue Labour – a movement that speaks to traditional British values and includes a keen commitment to the royal family. The tabloids, both left and right, know their audience – reams of royal exposés and double-page scoops speak to a class-bound devotion to the King and his motley crew.

The roots of this royal devotion can be traced back to Victorian times when the Empress-Queen traded power for popularity and became an unexpected, unifying symbol in the industrial north. A mid-century influx of Irish and Jewish migrants helped focus local hearts and minds on exclusive ideas of Englishness, with Victoria the (half-German) repository for all that was great about Britain.

Meanwhile, the notoriously reclusive widow of Windsor couldn’t resist the adulation expressed on the day of her diamond jubilee. “No one ever, I believe, has met with such an ovation as was given to me …The crowds were quite indescribable and their enthusiasm truly marvellous and deeply touching.”

And just as Rayner will have enjoyed her Cornish sojourn, we can be sure that Charles also took delight in the deputy prime minister’s abundant appreciation. By all accounts, their relationship can be traced back to Rayner’s opposition days, when their common interest in housing (and levelling up?) began.

A spokesperson insisted that His Majesty’s tour of Newquay’s Nansledan Community was a “show not tell” affair. A kingly example of what can be done when new homes have supporting infrastructure and public services. It’s just a shame that Rayner wasn’t also invited to the mid-week Windsor sleepover for Britain’s national leaders. Sinn Fein leader, Michelle O’Neill, reneged on spending the night (a reminder that not all working communities welcome the King), so a spare bed was in the offing.

Both sides were no doubt aware that one can have too much of a good thing. After all, there will be discomfort on the road ahead: it’s unlikely that Rayner’s projected 1.5 million new homes will live up to the sybarite King’s green credentials. Better to take it slowly and leave the crowds wanting more. And there will be more.

The last time that Charles was accompanied by a senior politician to examine a royal-inspired project was in 1998. Back then it was “two Jags” John Prescott – another genuine Labour acolyte and uniter of the north – who escorted the Prince of Wales around his Poundbury development in Dorset. Like Prescott before her, Rayner is proof that opposites attract. The grit in Labour government, our deputy prime minister is not everyone’s cup of tea, but at least she’s the real deal when it comes to working-class credibility. Watching her josh with the King is a canny reminder for those blue-labour voters that more unites than divides them.