It seems that Iemochi thought that more loyalty could be generated from the bakufu hatamoto (direct retainers of the shogun) and fudai daimyo (daimyo and hereditary vassals to the Tokugawa family) with Kamenosuke, who was related to himself and his father-in-law Iesada TOKUGAWA, than Yoshinobu, whose blood relationship did not seem to be closely tied to successive shoguns aside from his relation to the first Shogun, Ieyasu TOKUGAWA.
また亀之助は、血統の上でも自分や義父である徳川家定と最近親の徳川家の家族であり、初代徳川家康まで遡らなければ、歴代将軍達と血が繋がらないような慶喜よりも旗本および譜代大名の忠誠心を引き出せると考えていたようである。