While Motohiro was known as the Kugyo who promoted the shogunate marital union with the imperial family, he strongly opposed the Koka (marriage of an imperial princess to a subject) of Yasonomiya (Imperial Princess Yoshiko), the daughter of the Retired Emperor Reigen, to Shogun Ietsugu TOKUGAWA after the death of Ienobu under recommendation from Hakuseki ARAI (this was probably due to an attempt by Ietsugu's biological mother, Gekkoin, to get rid of Retired Emperor Reigen, who tried to improve the relation with the bakufu, and Hiroko KONOE (who became a monk called Teneiin)), and did not forget to distance himself from the bakufu as Choshin (Imperial retainer).
とかく親幕派・公武合体を進めた公卿として知られるが、一方で家宣の死後に新井白石の斡旋で行われた霊元上皇皇女の八十宮（吉子内親王）の将軍徳川家継への降嫁（これは一転して幕府との関係改善に乗り出した霊元上皇と近衛熈子（出家して天英院）の排除を策する家継生母月光院との思惑の一致による側面もあった）には朝廷の尊厳を損なうとして強く反対するなど朝臣として幕府とは距離をとることも忘れなかった。