Takamaro's second elder brother, Kinmochi SAIONJI temporarily assumed the position of the Governor of Echigo Prefecture, but he resigned from it and went to study in Nagasaki until, in February 1871, he traveled abroad as a government sponsored student sent to France.
隆麿の次兄西園寺公望は一時越後府の知事となったが辞し、長崎に遊学、4年正月に政府のフランス留学生として外遊した。