Princess Kate made a sweet reference to her children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, eight, and Prince Louis during her visit to the Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS) Yeovilton, in Somerset today.
The Princess of Wales was speaking to staff when she said her children would have loved to come and see the airbase with her.
She told the air traffic controllers that her children were “excited” about her visit to the air base and told her: “I can’t believe you’re going there!”
Earlier, the royal, who made her debut as Commodore-in-Chief of the Fleet Air Arm, burst into a fit of giggles when the lifejacket she was wearing suddenly inflated.
The princess was highly amused when technicians led her through some training exercises.
The 41-year-old paired a black blazer with statement gold buttons with matching trousers and a white blouse as she entered a vast aircraft hangar where she got up close with a range of survival kit, including flotation rafts and a lifejacket – which appeared to interest her the most.
Trying the life-saving device on, Kate quickly went from a bundle of nerves as she braced for the device to inflate, to bursting into a fit of giggles having been completely taken aback by the speed at which it expanded around her neck.
Technical staff then promptly let out some air to give her some space, before helping her to remove it.
The princess also visited the air traffic control tower, where she met staff, and in a typically British fashion, talked about the weather.
Putting on a headset used by air traffic controllers to communicate with aircraft, Kate talked to the airborne crew of a Wildcat helicopter coming into land and asked them about the height of the clouds, which they told her was 1100 feet, before she relayed this to a Met Office unit in the building.
For the final leg of her visit, the princess joined engineers at the wildcat training centre where she helped to load a huge sea venom anti-ship missile onto a wildcat Mk2 helicopter.
Kate then tried her hand at flying the state-of-the-art maritime attack helicopter in a simulator, which allows aircrew to practise flying over land or onto ships.
She finished her visit by inspecting a Merlin Mk4 helicopter used by the Royal Marines and a Merlin Mk2, which hunts submarines.
The naval air base is one of the busiest military airfields in the UK and where King Charles had his helicopter flying training in 1974.
More than 4,000 personnel work at RNAS Yeovilton, which is home to several frontline squadrons and training units, including the Wildcat Maritime Force.
