Alan Rickman has got married in secret.

The 69-year-old actor has been in a relationship with Rima Horton since they met when he was 19 and she was 18 and they have lived together in London for 50 years.

They were believed to have never tied the knot but the 'Alice In Wonderland' star has now revealed they went off and got wed in New York City this year.

In an interview with Germany's Bild newspaper, he was asked what the secret is to his successful relationship - even though he wasn't married - and he surprisingly replied: ''We are married. Just recently. It was great, because no one was there. After the wedding in New York we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate Lunch.''

Rickman also revealed he bought his wife a wedding ring for $200 even though ''she never wears it'' and he admitted the ceremony was very low-key.

Rickman is most famous for his portrayal of Professor Snape in the 'Harry Potter' film franchise and he recently revealed that child stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint shared their roles with small adults in wigs due to child labour law restrictions.

He said: ''In the first film, if anybody ever wants to look, of course you've got the problem of kids who can only work a certain number of hours. Sometimes there were 300 children on set, and at certain points they all had to go off and do some schoolwork.''