As the British Commonwealth gears up for Saturday’s coronation ceremony, King Charles III joked that the palace set the wrong day of the week, as Sabbath-observant Jews would not be allowed to attend the once-in-a-lifetime event.

He made the remarks on May 3 to Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Yossi Jacobs, Chief Minister of the Birmingham Hebrew Congregation.

The rabbi and his wife, Rachel Jacobs, were at the palace for the coronation tea party when Charles told the rabbi that the timing “was the wrong day of the week.” The rabbi responded by assuring the monarch that he and his congregation would be praying for him at their 166-year-old synagogue, known informally as the Singers Hill Shul, the Midlands’ oldest and largest congregation.

They’ll be saying a special prayer composed by Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis KBE, as will their brethren from Australia to Canada.

This was not the Jacobs’s first time at the palace, as they’d previously been invited to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s jubilee celebrations back in 2012.

Incidentally, Chief Rabbi Mirvis will attend the coronation on Shabbat—getting there by foot, of course—as per precedent established by his predecessors.