Castle Boterberg

Here lived the wealthy industrialist Hector Carlier with his wife Amalia Goossens.

In the early 1930s, Hector met Amalia Goossens, a girl from humble beginnings. She worked in her father's café, Le Tigre Royal in Ekeren, which also served as a rendezvous house. It has always been unclear whether Amalia – she was called Emma at the time – was a waitress or a courtesan. In any case, Hector fell in love with the 26-year younger woman, something that was not well received in the bourgeoisie to which he belonged. When Amalia became pregnant, they married in haste and took up residence in the Boterberg castle in Kalmthout. They had three children. Marie-Antoinette was the eldest, then there was another daughter, Amalia, and a son, Ferdinand.

Remarkably, their fortune ended up with a farmer from Kempen. You can hear how that came to be in the exciting VRT podcast

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