Jean-Marie Le Pen has claimed a remembrance ceremony honouring a French police officer killed in a terror attack “publicly exalted” same-sex marriage.

The Front National founder, who was expelled from the party over anti-Semitic remarks, took aim at an emotional eulogy delivered by Xavier Jugelé’s husband as his daughter battles for the French presidency.

The 88-year-old’s latest remarks came as Marine Le Pen was engulfed in yet another scandal, which has seen her replacement as party leader stepping down amid accusations of holocaust denial.

Mr Le Pen said in a video posted on his website that he was “astonished” by the speech watched by Francois Hollande and hundreds of gathered dignitaries, police officers and members of the public.

“It seemed to me that there was something dubious about this ceremony,” he said.

“The long speech he made in some way institutionalised gay marriage, exalted it publicly, and that shocked me a bit.

“I think this domestic peculiarity should be kept away from this kind of ceremony, which itself would gain more discretion.”

Etienne Cardiles described how he left his husband sleeping to go to work on what seemed like a normal day on 20 April.

They discussed their holiday plans throughout the day, before Mr Jugelé fell silent amid news of a shooting in Paris.

He was shot dead on the Champs Elysees after a man armed with a Kalashnikov opened fire on his police van in an attack claimed by Isis.

Mr Jugelé had also been among the officers deployed to the Bataclan during the group’s November 2015 attacks, returning to the concert hall for its reopening to “celebrate life”.

Xavier Jugelé, a French police officer who was shot dead by a gunman on the Champs Elysees on 20 April (Flag/Twitter)

“When the first messages were issued that a serious incident was taking place on the Champs-Élysées, and that a policeman had lost his life, a little voice inside told me that it was you,” Mr Cardiles said.

“I returned home that evening without you, with an extreme and profound pain that maybe one day will weaken, I don’t know.”

Addressing his husband’s killer, suspected Isis supporter Karim Cheurfi, he added: “You will not have my hatred.

“I do not feel it because it is not like you, Xavier. Because it doesn’t correspond with anything that made your heart beat, nor what made you a police officer.

“A life of joy and smiles in which love and tolerance were your uncontested masters. You lived like a star, you leave like a star.”

The legalisation of gay marriage in France was one of the flagship policies of outgoing President Francois Hollande’s five years in office, a move that was popular with many people in France but controversial with a large conservative section of society.

Mr Le Pen was an outspoken opponent of the law, being quoted as describing homosexuality as “a biological and social anomaly”.

Following a lengthy public spat with his daughter, he was expelled from the Front National in 2015 for describing Nazi gas chambers as a “detail” of history.

Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Show all 23 1 /23 Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police officers secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees. One police officer has been killed, and a second injured by a gunman on The Champs Elysees Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police officers block the access of a street near the Champs Elysees in Paris after a shooting in which one police officer was killed and another wounded. The attacker was killed in the incident on the world famous boulevard that is popular with tourists Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police officers control passersby near the Champs Elysees in Paris after a shooting. One police officer was killed and another wounded today in a shooting on Paris's Champs Elysees, police said just days ahead of France's presidential election. The attacker was killed in the incident on the world famous boulevard that is popular with tourists. Getty Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees People run away after a shooting at the Champs Elysees in Paris Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees French people hold their hands in the air after a shooting in which a police officer was killed along with the attacker and another police officer wounded in an attack on the Champs Elysees in Paris EPA Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Bystanders are frisked by police officers near the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, France, after a fatal shooting in which a police officer was killed along with an attacker AP Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees People hold their hands up as they walk towards police officers before being controlled near the site of a shooting at the Champs Elysees in Paris. France's interior ministry said the attacker was killed after opening fire on police in the early evening on the world-famous boulevard Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police look through binoculars as officers secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees A tourist is blocked by French soldiers next to the Champs Elysee Avenue during ongoing police operations after a shooting in which two police officers were killed along with their attacker and another police officer wounded in a terror attack near the Champs Elysees in Paris, France EPA Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees A tourist is blocked by French soldiers next to the Champs Elysee Avenue during ongoing police operations after a shooting in which two police officers were killed along with their attacker and another police officer wounded in a terror attack near the Champs Elysees in Paris, France EPA Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees French Police officers, after a shooting in which two police officer were killed along with their attacker and another police officer wounded in an attack near the Champs Elysees in Paris, France EPA Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Forensic experts and police officers examine evidence from a police van on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France, after a fatal shooting in which a police officer was killed along with an attacker AP Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police investigators inspect the car used by the attacker on the Champs Elysees Avenue after a policeman was killed and two others were wounded in a shooting incident in Paris, France Reuters Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees A French soldier patrols on the Champs Elysees in Paris after a shooting. One police officer was killed and another wounded today in a shooting on Paris's Champs Elysees, police said just days ahead of France's presidential election. France's interior ministry said the attacker was killed in the incident on the world famous boulevard that is popular with tourists Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police officers patrol near the site of a shooting at the Champs Elysees in Paris Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees French military secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees French military secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees in Paris, France Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees One police officer has been killed, and a second injured by a gunman on The Champs Elysees Getty Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police officers secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees Police secure the area after a gunman opened fire on Champs Elysees. Getty Images Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, flanked by Interior Minister Mathias Fekl and Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas, speaks to the media outside the Elysee Palace after a defense council meeting in Paris, France EPA Gunman attack on the Champs-Elysees A damaged window is pictured on the Champs Elysees boulevard in Paris AP

Meanwhile, Ms Le Pen is languishing in opinion polls ahead of the decisive vote against centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron, after years of attempting to gain popular support by cleansing the Front National’s anti-Semitic and xenophobic image.

She temporarily stood down as party leader this week, claiming the move allowed her to concentrate on a presidential campaign “above party politics”, but they have continued to damage her chances.

Her expected replacement in the Front National, vice president Jean-Francois Jalkh, abruptly resigned over allegations – which he strongly denies – that he was a Holocaust denier.

Ms Le Pen’s partner Louis Aliot said the politician would take legal action over the claims and “wants to defend himself”.

Steeve Briois, another of the party’s four vice presidents, is taking Mr Jalkh’s place after allegations emerged over a conversation with a researcher in 2005.

He is said to have described the work of Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, who was previously convicted for “complicity in contesting the existence of crimes against humanity”, as “serious” and “rigorous”.

In the run-up to her bid for power, Ms Le Pen has sought to recast the Front National as a nativist, or “French first” party that opposes immigration, globalisation and the EU.