Emma Thompson decorated her late on-screen husband Alan Rickman‘s hospital room prior to his death so he would feel ‘more at home’.

The Harry Potter legend, who passed away in January 2016 at the age of 69 after battling pancreatic cancer, was married to wife Rima Horton since 2012.

Emma, 66, played Alan’s on-screen wife in the 2003 romcom blockbuster Love Actually, while the pair had been close pals for decades, appearing together in the 1995 adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.

And ten years on from the tragic loss, Labour Councillor Rima, 78, has opened up about the last few months of Alan’s life, saying he received visits from friends who wanted to say goodbye and even planned out his final send-off.

She revealed one of Rickman’s regular visitors was his longtime friend Dame Emma who brought in throws and a standing lamp to help make the actor feel comfortable.

She told The Sunday Times newspaper: ‘I think he wanted to say goodbye to his friends and have it under his control. He even organised his own funeral because he didn’t want it to be a mess.’

Emma Thompson, 66, decorated her late on-screen husband Alan Rickman’s hospital room prior to his death so he would feel ‘more at home’ (Emma and Alan seen together)

Alan’s wife Rima Horton revealed his longtime pal Emma (pictured in October 2025) was a regular visitor who brought in throws and a lamp to help make the actor feel comfortable

Emma played Alan’s on-screen wife on the 2003 romcom blockbuster Love Actually. The pair first met in the late 1980s (seen as Harry and Karen in Love Actually)

‘(Emma) was creating a salon around him while he was in bed. She brought in a standing lamp and throws so that it didn’t feel like a hospital room.’

The former academic also explained that the late actor had one request from his doctors and that was to not die in pain and she said she was glad that he did not. 

The couple decided to keep the actor’s cancer secret because he didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him, and Rima admitted she tried not to do any online research about the disease.

She said: ‘We didn’t tell anybody apart from our families at first. Alan didn’t want people to look at him and say: “Oh, how sad.”

‘We knew it [the cancer] was fully grown and had spread. I didn’t Google it or anything, I didn’t want to know, but we knew what it meant. We knew the chemo wouldn’t work, but you live in hope.’

Rima previously opened up about how Rickman planned his own funeral and chose Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s hit track Uptown Funk to be played for mourners.

In an extract from the book Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries, Horton explained, she said: ‘He designed his own funeral. Ian Rickson (theatre director) was put in charge.

Ten years from her tragic loss Rima, 78, has opened up about the last few months of Alan’s life, saying he received visits from friends who wanted to say goodbye and even planned his final send-off (Rima and Alan seen in 2002)

‘Alan chose where it would take place, who would speak and what music would be played. He was surrounded by people who loved him and up until January 13 was still in control of everything that was going on around him.

‘But he wasn’t there after that, and he died at 9.15 in the morning of 14 January 2016. I was there. He wasn’t in pain. He just went.’

The wife of the beloved late actor went on adding: ‘Alan was cremated on the morning of 3 February with close friends and family present. The funeral service was held that afternoon in the Actors’ Church in the heart of London’s theatre district.

‘The chosen music was Uptown Funk and Take It with Me by Tom Waits. We finished with everyone singing The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.’