Two women in France are in court to be tried over claims that the country's first lady, Brigitte Macron, is transgender.

The trial on defamation charges in Paris comes after Brigitte, 71, filed a complaint for libel in 2022 against the duo, AFP reported.

The original claim was made in a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging the first lady had once been a man named "Jean-Michel".

"Jean-Michel" is the name of the first lady's brother.

Claims made during presidential election

The claim circulated widely just weeks before the 2022 presidential election.

Brigitte's husband, President Emmanuel Macron, 46, had slammed the false information spread about his wife.

The court case comes during a packed season for the French president.

He is campaigning during snap legislative polls he called after the far right trounced his party in EU Parliament elections.

What women on trial claimed

The two women in the lawsuit are Amandine Roy, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, and Natacha Rey, an independent journalist.

Their video posted online featured pictures of the first lady and her family in December 2021.

Roy appeared in court in Paris on Wednesday, Jun. 19, to answer questions about the interview she conducted with Rey, who failed to show up citing illness, according to another version of the APF report.

Roy, 49, had interviewed Rey for four hours on her YouTube channel.

Rey spoke about the "state lie" and "scam" that she claimed to have uncovered.

Roy said Rey was "desperate to share her work".

Roy then claimed she had merely "acquiesced to" Rey's "request".

As for the credibility of the claims, Roy insisted that Rey "had spent three years researching" the topic.

"My regret is that this wasn't taken up and investigated by the mainstream media," Roy said, who added that she could not "hide" such a "serious" subject.

"The prejudice is massive, it exploded everywhere," said Brigitte Macron's lawyer, Jean Ennochi.

He demanded 10,000 euros (S$14,500) in compensation for each of Brigitte Macron and her brother.

Implications of claims

Messages multiplied on social media claiming that the first lady, formerly Brigitte Trogneux, had never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel had changed gender and assumed that identity, AFP reported.

The false claim also led to more serious accusations of child abuse brought against France's first lady.

The president's relationship with his wife 24 years his senior has been a source of media attention in France and elsewhere.

The French president had met his future wife while he was still a teenager and she was a teacher.

The claim by Roy and Rey sparked online rumour-mongering by conspiracy theorists and the far-right.

The disinformation even spread to the United States, where Brigitte Macron was attacked in a now deleted YouTube video ahead of the November elections.

A decision on the case is due to be made on Sep. 12.

Top photos via The White House & CCTV