Who is Rima Horton, the childhood sweetheart Alan Rickman married shortly before his death?

Screen legend Alan Rickman has passed away following a battle with cancer. "The actor and director Alan Rickman has died from cancer at the age of 69. He was surrounded by family and friends," a statement from his family read.

Months before his tragic death, Rickman, who was best known for his roles in Die Hard and the Harry Potter movies, married the love of his life, Rima Horton.

In April 2015, he confirmed in an interview with German magazine Bild that the event –which had been 50 years in the making– came and went without much fanfare: "It was great, because no one was there. After the ceremony in New York, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate lunch."

But who is the woman that supported the Golden Globe-, Emmy- and SAG-winning actor throughout his prolific career?

Early years

Rima Elizabeth Horton was born in Bayswater, London. She is the middle child from a working class family and has an older sister and younger brother. She attended St. Vincent de Paul in Holland Park Avenue, a girl-only school that was run by Mrs. Reid and Mrs. Branley. It had only 40 pupils at that time.

Love

After graduating school, Horton studied at the Chelsea College of Art, where she would meet Rickman, then a budding actor. The couple started dating when she was 18 and he was 19. Although they had been living together since 1977, they never felt the need to make their relationship official in the eyes of the law until 2012, when they wed in a secret ceremony on New York.

"I think every relationship should be allowed to have its own rules. She's tolerant. She's incredibly tolerant," he said previously said of his partner. "Unbelievably tolerant. Possibly a candidate for sainthood."

The couple had no children.

Career

Horton ventured into politics in 1986 when she was elected as the Labour Party councillor for the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea London. She stepped down in 2006. Horton has also worked as an economics lecturer at the University of Kingston.