There was a Lib Dem baroness, Baroness Kramer, who said that in her attempt to open an account with one bank, they've insisted on the payslips from her husband who died 17 years ago.
A note from the baroness told Madame Aubain that as her husband had been promoted to a prefecture, they were leaving that night, and she begged her to accept the bird as a remembrance and a token of her esteem.