As “Downton Abbey” enters its hiatus until the start of season six next year, the show has yet to leave the media spotlight. The show is so popular and well known the first lady of Mexico met with cast members of the popular British costume drama.

As part of Mexico’s presidential visit to the United Kingdom, first lady Angelica Rivera, wife of President Enrique Peña Nieto, broke away from the usual state visit events and visited the cast of “Downton Abbey,” according to Hello magazine.

In a tweet shared by the British Monarchy account, Rivera stands with the Countess of Wessex as well as Hugh Bonneville (Lord Grantham), Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Grantham), Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) and Sophie McShera (Daisy). The cast remained in their period costumes for the photo.

The Mexican first lady, aside from her current role, is also a telenovela actor, having starred in various soap operas for more than 20 years.

Talking with the Telegraph, “Downton Abbey” creator and writer Julian Fellowes explained that the British costume drama has drawn some inspiration from Mexican telenovelas.

“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,” he said, adding he did not get a chance to first lady Rivera but met President Peña Nieto.

The cast, however, “were all absolutely delighted that they came.” Fellowes also said that he visited Mexico and he was very excited when he saw President Peña Nieto when he gave his speech at the House of Lords.

Fellowes rejected rumors that President Peña Nieto asked him to cast his wife for a cameo on the show.

”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,” Fellowes said.

The new season of “Downton Abbey” will air in the U.K. in the fall and will then air in the U.S. on PBS around January. It remains uncertain whether the show will continue as, according to The New York Times, Fellowes has begun work on the NBC show “The Gilded Age.”

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