Britain’s Sophie, Countess of Wessex, escorted Mexico’s First Lady on a visit to the ‘Downton Abbey’ set yesterday (05.03.15).
The 50-year-old countess and Angelica Rivera – who is in the UK accompanying her husband, President Enrique Peña Nieto, on a state visit – met cast members from the popular period drama, including Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery, Sophie McShera and Elizabeth McGovern, who all remained in period costume throughout the private trip.
Angelica, 45, will have particularly enjoyed the ‘Downton’ trip as she is a soap star in her native country and the British show’s creator Lord Julian Fellowes thinks she would be very well-suited to his show.
He said: "Mexico has a very rich tradition of soap opera and running narrative drama which in many ways we sort of adopted – that very Latin American, high emotional content – to soup-up our dramas.
"I didn’t in fact meet the First Lady. But I know they were all absolutely delighted that they came."
"In fact I met the President the day before when he came to address the Lords. It was very exciting, I love Mexico. It was very exciting because I have actually been to Mexico. In his speech he outlined a really very optimistic future for Mexico which I hope comes to pass."
However the showrunner played down claim the Mexican president had appealed for a cameo role for his wife on the programme.
He said: "I think she’s more than capable of doing that herself. But she’s already got a pretty difficult part to play as First Lady. I think that’s more taxing than any role I could come up with."
Sophie has previously met the ‘Downton’ stars at a charity event last November.
Sophie Wessex makes Downton visit
