King Charles cancelling his royal engagements because of the side-effects of his cancer treatment prompted an outpouring of public support. It also had a more curious effect – it reminded me how, historically, Labour prime ministers tend to get on better than expected with the monarch, The Independent’s chief political commentator John Rentoul writes.

The establishment’s fear of socialism is usually allayed by politicians eager to prove themselves responsible. Ramsay MacDonald made a good impression on George V when he formed the first minority Labour government in 1924. “He wishes to do the right thing,” the King wrote in his diary. “Today, 23 years ago, dear Grandmama [Queen Victoria] died. I wonder what she would have thought of a Labour government!”

MacDonald was determined to show that Labour could be trusted, and was accused by some in his party of being too keen to ingratiate himself with the aristocracy, the royal family at its apex. He was accused of much worse when the King persuaded him to form a national government in 1931, after the stock market crash, because that required MacDonald to abandon the Labour Party and throw in his lot with the Conservatives.

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At their wedding reception, held the same day as the Grand National, Queen Elizabeth II said about their romance: “They have overcome Becher’s Brook and The Chair and all kinds of other terrible obstacles.

“They have come through and I’m very proud and wish them well. My son is home and dry with the woman he loves.”

Charles first met fun, confident Camilla on the Windsor Great Park polo field in 1970 when he had just left Cambridge University, a year before he joined the Royal Navy.

No marriage proposal came, despite the closeness between the pair and when the relationship cooled after Charles dedicated himself to his Navy career, Camilla wed cavalry officer Andrew Parker Bowles in 1973 and Charles later married Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981.

After Charles and Camilla both divorced – and Diana died in l997 – Camilla’s eventual emergence as Charles’ long-term partner was part of a carefully planned PR campaign masterminded by the heir to the throne’s spin doctor Mark Bolland.

Their first public appearance together was outside the Ritz hotel in London in 1999, dubbed Operation Ritz, where the mass of waiting photographers had been tipped off.

The King and Queen will mark their 20th wedding anniversary on Wednesday by spending the evening as guests of honour at a state banquet in Rome.

The black-tie dinner, a highlight of the couple’s four-day state visit to Italy which begins on Monday, will be attended by prominent figures from Italian society.

The day will mark two decades since Charles and Camilla wed at Windsor Guildhall on April 9, 2005.

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The King and Queen are set to begin their three-day trip to Italy on Monday after his hospital stay last week.

The historic visit will see Charles become the first British sovereign to address both houses of the Italian parliament and he is also set to hold audiences with Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella and prime pinister Giorgia Meloni.

The monarch was also due to visit Pope Francis at the Vatican, but this was postponed because the Pope was advised to have “extended period of rest and recuperation” after surviving a five-week, life-threatening bout of pneumonia.

Charles has faced his own health concerns in recent weeks. He was forced to postpone his engagements last Friday following a short stay in hospital after experiencing side effects from his cancer treatment.