http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000116/re/britain_william_2.html

Sunday January 16 9:53 PM ET

UK's Prince William Tries to End Royal Rift

               By Hannah Cowdy

               LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Prince William defied Queen Elizabeth's husband when he visited his aunt, the Duchess of York, to try to heal a rift between her and the royal family, newspapers reported on Monday.

               William, 17, and his brother Harry, 15, took time off from a Christmas shooting party with Prince Philip, the duchess' most vocal royal critic, to call on the former wife of the queen's second son Prince Andrew, the  top-selling Sun tabloid said.

``It shows he is not frightened of Philip...Whatever the duchess has done wrong in the past, William sees no reason why he should not speak to his aunt,'' the Sun quoted a royal source as saying.

Fergie, as she is popularly known from her maiden name Sarah Ferguson, burst onto the royal scene in 1986 as a career-minded woman determined to live life to the full.

But she made enemies -- particularly with Prince Philip -- by refusing to let royal protocol get in the way of a good time.

When her marriage collapsed in 1992 and ended in divorce four years later, courtiers were unable to conceal their relief at seeing the back of the one-time publishing executive.

The publication of photographs showing the still-married duchess in the arms of Texan John Bryan brought simmering resentments into the open. London's The Evening Standard newspaper branded her ``the Duchess of Vulgarity.''

Prince Philip is reported to have banned Fergie from joining the royal family for Christmas lunch even though her daughters, Beatrice, 11, and Eugenie, 9, join in the celebrations every year.

In an interview last year, he said he thought she was ''odd'' and that keeping in touch with her was ``pointless.''

Fergie was once close friends with Prince William's mother Princess Diana, but the two were not talking at the time of Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997.

Last year Fergie expressed concern that she had been forbidden from meeting William and Harry. Their father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, is another who is said to have favored keeping Fergie out of the royal fold.

The mass circulation Mirror tabloid said Fergie had barely seen her nephews since Diana's death.

``She had no idea that they were going to come. It was a complete surprise, but she was thrilled to see them,'' it quoted a royal source as saying.

Fergie, who still lives under the same roof as Prince Andrew, said last year that they were the happiest divorced couple in the world.