THE credit crunch has reached the bedrooms of the rich and powerful who are cutting back on gifts and allowances to their mistresses, a survey of American millionaires has found.

Sociologist Russ Alan Prince, a Connecticut wealth consultant, said 80% of the America’s upper-upper class, mostly older white men, are planning to cut back on Christmas presents to their extramarital lovers.

The survey, part of a wider study of spending intentions amongst the fabulously wealthy, found 191 multi-millionaires willing to speak anonymously about money, sex and their mistresses.

He said the millionaires, all jet owners worth more than $20m (£13.5m), were surprisingly open, even boastful, about their amorous habits but were growing concerned that they may no longer be able to keep their lovers in the style to which they have become accustomed,

He said the men who answered his telephone questionnaire, mostly captains of industry in their 50s and 60s, pay between $200,000 (£135,000) and $1m (£675,000) a year for the pleasure of a younger woman’s company.

“These people are largely workaholics who see their lovers about once a month, and pay a fortune in rent, spa treatments and maybe five weeks of vacations a year for the privilege,” said Prince last week. “At a time when the average American family income is $48,000 a year, they are questioning the value of such investments.”

He said that about 12% of the men he questioned had plans to dump their mistresses, primarily on economic grounds. Two thirds of men who have been underwriting their lover’s lifestyle for more than three years are preparing to cut back, compared with fewer than half those who have been with their lovers for a shorter time.

Prince said many rich men felt the power in the relationship actually lies with their mistress. “I spoke to one man who just sends cheques because he is frightened to see his mistress at the moment.

“They know that some of their mistresses are smart, they follow their company share prices in the newspapers, and will bail out if he does badly.”

He said the one question often raised by mistresses is who gets her flat when the affair burns out. “The men say they would give it to her, but they haven’t paid the gift taxes, leaving this in question. If the economy grows any worse, this will become a flashpoint.”

The role model here is Nell Gwyn, who persuaded her lover King Charles II, to give her the freehold to the Crown property at 79 Pall Mall, London, which for centuries remained the only private residence in the street. She is, according to Elizabeth Abbott, author of The History of Mistresses, the patron saint of the modern mistress.

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