Kate Middleton knew just what to say to a group of pupils who voiced their reluctance about being back in the classroom!

On Thursday, Sept. 11, the Princess of Wales, 43, shared a clever comeback in conversation with a group of young schoolgirls as she left Sudbury Silk Mills in Sudbury, Suffolk.

“Nice to meet you. What school have you come from? Thank you for waiting. I saw you when I came in, and I wanted to say hello, because you have been waiting very patiently, I gather, have you?” Princess Kate said in fan footage shared to Instagram.

The students told the princess that they were in Year 5 and Year 6, putting some of them in the same grade as Princess Charlotte, who is a Year 6 student at the Lambrook School.

Princess Kate then spoke about what she saw inside the silk mill and asked the girls, “Thank you for coming to say hi. Is it nice being back at school?”

“No,” the pupils said in unison. “No!” Kate exclaimed, which made the girls laugh.

“That must have meant you had a really good holiday,” the Princess of Wales sweetly suggested.

“Kind of,” one student said, and Kate repeated, “Kind of,” moving to shake hands with other well-wishers in the crowd.

Princess Kate and Prince William are parents to Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, and all three kids went back to school last week after a summer break.

Working members of the royal family like the Prince and Princess of Wales traditionally retreat from mid-July through August for a private summer break before fall begins.

Prince William, 43, and Princess Kate returned to work last week on Sept. 4 and spoke about their kids at their latest engagement on Sept. 8, when they visited the Women’s Institute in Sunningdale on the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s death.

There, the Prince of Wales had the best response when asked whether Prince Louis was “a bit of a handful” and Princess Kate revealed that she and the kids were “crafting in every corner of the house” during summer vacation.