Che Engku Chesterina

Che Engku Chesterina (born Chesterina Sim-Zecha in 1943) is a former Indonesian ballerina who became a Malaysian royal after marrying Tunku Tan Sri Abdullah, a prince of Negeri Sembilan and founder of Melewar Group.

Che Engku Chesterina was born into the Lauw-Sim-Zecha family, a prominent political and plantation family of Peranakan and Indo antecedents. She is a great-granddaughter of Louisa Zecha, an Indo planter of Czech descent, by her second marriage to Sim Keng Koen, Kapitein der Chinezen of Sukabumi. She is also a cousin of the hotelier and founder of Aman Resorts, Adrian Zecha.

Chesterina Sim-Zecha moved to England to study ballet in 1956 at The Legat School under the tutelage of Madam Nadine Nicolaeva-Legat. While working in Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical, “Flower Drum Song” in London’s West End, Sir Peter Wright discovered Chesterina’s exceptional talent. She was given the starring role of Odette in Swan Lake at the Festival of Cork. She then joined as one of the pioneer dancers of Stuttgart Ballet in Germany under John Cranko.

Chesterina retired from dancing in 1973 when she married into the royal house of Negeri Sembilan. She is the Honorary Patron of the Central School of Classical Ballet in Western Australia.

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