Distant descendants of England's King Richard III are battling the justice secretary in London's High Court in an effort to force a public consultation over the final resting place of the country's last medieval monarch.

After being killed by soldiers loyal to Henry VII in 1485, Richard's body was taken to Leicester, about 100 miles north of today's London, and buried at Grey Friars Church, where his grave remained unknown -- and was eventually covered over by a municipal parking lot -- until a 2012 archaeological study discovered it.

The identification of Richard's remains earned international media attention around the world and ended the long-departed ruler's final claim as the only English king since 1066 whose final resting place was not known.

Under an order issue at the time of exhumation, Richard's remains were supposed to be re-interred in Leicester Cathedral after intensive forensic research.

However, the Plantagenet Alliance, a company formed by remote relatives of the House of York's last sovereign, started an effort to have the royal bones buried in the northern city they regarded as Richard's natural home.

Gerard Clarke, the barrister, or attorney, representing the Alliance in its opposition to the Ministry of Justice, University of Leicester and Leicester city council, told three judges at a judicial review Richard's resting place should be considered in a public consultation that includes representations from the Crown, English Heritage, churches, other public entities and, he said, "those who claim a family relationship with the late king."

Clarke argued that since the license for the exhumation of Richard's body was granted five months before the remains were officially confirmed as those of the past king, the terms of the order should have been reviewed.

"Once they'd got a positive identification, the minister should have had a rethink ... It was a game changer once they knew who they'd found in the car park," said Clarke.

Leicester has already made plans for a visitor center, worth $6.6 million, in a building overlooking the car park, which is expected to open later this year.

Clarke, however, contends the decision shouldn't be "dictated by tourist plans."

In written arguments submitted to the court, lawyers for the government, university and city council asserted there is no obligation under the law to provide a public consultation on the Richard's reburial.

"The notion that a public law body must conduct some kind of open-ended inquiry in order to try and ascertain, most likely fruitlessly, whether an individual who died over 500 years ago may have expressed a wish to be buried in one place rather than another cannot be moored in any legal principle," a joint statement said.