KEY POINTS:
Never let it be said that Mr and Mrs Beckham are out of touch with ordinary people.
The former pop star and (dare we say it) former soccer star may shuttle between "Beckingham Palace" in England's Home Counties and a mansion in Los Angeles - but these days
they slum it in first class instead of hiring a private jet.
Indeed, on his arrival in Auckland last week with his LA Galaxy football team, David's people let it be known he would not be staying in the sixth-floor presidential suite at the Westin Hotel - he was happy bunking down, like his teammates, in a run-of-the-mill $500 room overlooking the courtyard.
And he apologised for his wife's absence: she had to take their children, Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz, to school in LA.
When he crashed on the double bed and flicked the 32-inch flat-screen television to the entertainment channel, he may have discovered his wife was doing nothing of the sort.
As the paparazzi photographers shoved, the 34-year-old former Spice Girl was arriving at London's upmarket Selfridges department store to promote her new clothing range - which she describes as "my fourth child".
Extraordinarily, there is a new story in the papers that have so long loved to hate Britain's biggest celebrity couple. Heaping plaudits on the range, the papers dare to suggest that maybe - just maybe - there is some substance to Posh and Becks.
The Sunday Times said: "At last she seems to have moved out of the shadow of Posh Spice."
And The Times, granted a rare interview with the clothes-horse turned clothes-maker, said last week the "girl power" band had been a bit of a detour. "What Victoria really, really wanted was to be a designer."
The new range has 10 dresses, priced from 650 pounds ($1790) to 1900 pounds ($5230) - and reportedly she has made only 400 of each. Victoria has said she would like to dress Nigella Lawson, the curvaceous TV chef, but the dresses don't come in anything above British size 14.
"I was never that good a singer but I think I am good at fashion. Even when I was at school, where I was bullied - sometimes physically, sometimes verbally - I was always customising my uniform," she tells The Times.
The dresses are modern without being gimmicky, "because in these recessionary times and at these prices, women are looking for something that will be an investment, aren't they?"
Yes, apparently Victoria is just a regular mum, concerned about the household budget in the credit crunch, concerned about the family's carbon footprint when they board a plane, concerned that her dresses have zips that undo from both ends: "Because then you can either put the dress on over your head or, if you don't want to mess up your hair, you can step into it - and also, you know, going to the loo wouldn't be this whole big palaver."
Like many working mums, Victoria has to juggle her job with driving the kids to school and to soccer, all the while trying to get to the gym to stay in shape (she features in an upcoming Armani lingerie advertising campaign).
And with David sitting on the reserves bench in a recent England football game, watching 19-year-old Theo Walcott score a hat-trick in his position, Victoria may have to step up as the main household breadwinner.
In January, when her husband transfers to Milan for eight weeks, Victoria will spend as much time with him as she can, though they will not take their boys out of school in America.
At the end of the day, the couple may leave the kids with a babysitter (or the nanny) and go out to dinner.
"We lead our lives in a much more low-profile way than people think. I'm not going to The Ivy in Beverly Hills. I don't think I've been to a premiere since we moved there," she tells The Times.
"We're not courting fame. I can give you a list of numerous restaurants that have underground parking so no one can get any photographs. I know all the restaurant kitchens in LA. Underground car parks and kitchens. That's my grand entrance."
But she prefers watching a DVD with her hubbie, unwinding in the bath and then going to bed early.
Whether in England or America, they have their close friends: the kids can play while the parents chat.
"I don't really care what people think. I never made friends easily. For years, when I was in the Spice Girls, those were my four best friends and we stuck up for each other. Now I've got David. Nothing has ever come particularly naturally to me."
At the American launch of her fashion range, at the Waldorf Towers hotel in New York, she arrived with a new friend on her arm, actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.
In the same city a week ago, the Beckham family watched the Thanks-giving parade then went for a stroll in Central Park with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes and their children.
"I'm just really happy. I wake up every morning and I think I'm so blessed. I don't read the stuff that's written about us. I'm not interested in gossip. Some of the people that I'm friends with in America - you know, Tom and Katie - they get it too and we laugh about all these stupid things."
They have always been targets of such "stupid" gossip but their friends understand - often they have been through it themselves. David is still living down tabloid reports of his fling with former nanny, Rebecca Loos; his friend Gordon Ramsay, the transatlantic celebrity chef, is now dealing with similar reports of a seven-year affair with a high-society mistress.
Reportedly, Victoria has been consoling Tana Ramsay. A "friend" told London's Daily Telegraph: "She knows exactly what Tana's going through".
Perhaps Victoria will advise Tana to simply visualise herself in a happy space. Perfectly in accord with Hollywood protocol, Victoria Beckham has discovered visualisation.
She explains to The Times: "I was talking to Gordon Ramsay and David about this the other day and they're the same. Gordon visualises a meal, then figures out how to prepare it. David visualises the goal. I'll lie in bed and think, 'What kind of look do I want to go for tomorrow?'
"Do I draw? No. Then again, nor do lots of designers. But I put it all on myself and ... know what feels comfortable. I know how a dress should sit. I've worn so many."
