Emperor Alexander II had several uniforms of those military units in which he was listed or was Colonel-in-Chief. Among others, his collection contained a dark blue chokha, which served as an everyday uniform of His Majesty’s Own Cossack Escort — the lifeguard of the Monarch and his family. The core of this unit consisted of the Terek and Kuban Cossacks. The emperor was the patron of several convoy units.

After the death of Alexander II, in August 1881, the new Russian Emperor Alexander III gave his father’s chokha to the Kuban Cossack Host as a souvenir. On January 26, 1882, the Military Headquarters made the following decision,

Special permission of the Chief of the Host Staff was required to move the uniform from the cathedral to any other place. The chokha participated in the ceremonial procession of displaying the Cossack regalia only once — in 1888, when Alexander III came to Kuban.

After the Bolshevik revolution, the regalia of the Kuban Cossack Host were taken abroad, and for more than 80 years they were outside of Russia. The uniform of Alexander II was returned to his homeland only in 2007. It was restored by the employees of the State Research Institute for Restoration, which is located in Moscow. The holes on the fabric, which were formed due to the ‘barbaric’ treatment of the uniform, were mended. One shoulder strap had to be made anew: the original one was lost. The gazyrs — cartridge belt sewn on a chokha — have not been completely preserved either. Now the chokha is displayed in the museum with other gazyrs that did not belong to Alexander II. The restorers also replaced the silver chains, with which the cartridge holders were attached to decorative metal stripes, while the badges were taken from another Caucasian costume.