It is perhaps the most alarming sign of the credit crunch yet. Slumping City bonuses are driving long-suffering wives to their divorce lawyers for advice on how to protect their own interests.

According to research commissioned by Sandra Davis, the Mishcon de Reya partner who represented Diana, Princess of Wales, among other high-flying divorcées, a fifth of all high earners in the Square Mile knows a colleague who has been on the receiving end of divorce proceedings since the downturn started.