Fans of Fergie Queue Up for Royal Encounter

Heidi Wiggers, 26, woke up early Wednesday morning, drove from San Bernardino to Pasadena and stood in the rain for two hours at Sarah Ferguson’s book signing because there was something she was just dying to get off her chest.

“I named my cat after her,” Wiggers confided. “My cat has red hair, and I named her Fergie.”

Wiggers joined at least 500 Fergie fans in the rain-soaked parking lot of Vroman’s bookstore to await her brush with--and autographed autobiography from--the Duchess of York.

Before the book signing, Vroman’s reported selling 20 copies of “My Story,” Ferguson’s tell-all about life in Buckingham Palace, released by Simon & Schuster last month. But after the signing--the only one in California--at least 700 copies of the $24.95 book were snapped up and 400 copies of her $14.95 junior-fiction books, “Royal Switch” and “Bright Lights,” also sold, said book buyer Stan Hynds.

The bulk of the crowd showed up after daybreak. But Angie Marie, 34, formed a line of one at midnight, and Glenn Bybee, 37, joined her four hours later.

“This is the first person I’ve stood in the rain for,” Marie said. “But she’s worth it. I think it’s really sad that the girls [Ferguson and Princess Diana] have had to go through so much.”

Marie debated whether to express her sympathy when the duchess signed her copy of “My Story,” but she decided “that would be out of line.”

Proper behavior and often impeccable attire characterized the crowd and offered much relief to the Vroman’s employees who were present at Howard Stern’s 1993 book signing.

“It was a completely different kind of crowd, obviously,” Hynds said. “Certainly more women [came out for Fergie]. And the great majority were well-mannered.”

Stern’s signing was about the only celebrity book function Bybee has missed in recent years. He has been one of the first in line for a dozen autograph sessions, and each time he has had to contend with the rain.

“This is nothing,” he said of the constant drizzle. “For Colin Powell there was a 13-hour wait in freezing weather.”

While a handful of celebrity book collectors like Bybee infiltrated the crowd, the majority was strictly Anglophile.

Katie--”No wait, Kathryn”--Rouze, 13, and her two best friends woke up from their slumber party at 5 a.m., dolled themselves up and skipped school to “see a royal.”

“I’m a fan of the duchess,” said Rouze, of Alhambra’s Ramona Covenant School. But she confessed that there is someone she would much rather see.

“Prince William,” she giggled. “I’ve had a crush on him since last year on Nov. 26,” the day she first saw Fergie’s 14-year-old nephew on a television newscast.

Since that fateful day, Rouze has devoured books about the royal family and British history, said her mother, Wendy, a Vroman’s employee.

“She figures if she’s going to marry into the family, she should get to know their history,” she joked. “She was going to slip a letter to him with his aunt, but we convinced her not to.”

Instead William’s aunt received flowers, baubles and a Burbank Police Department coffee mug. And in return she delivered her signature along with quips and compliments.

“She said she noticed the resemblance,” gushed a very, very happy Debbie Hartog, who said she is often mistaken for Fergie. “And she told me she likes my clothes!”