Yes you do. You won't get much sleep though. You will be leaving Heathrow around 10:15 and take you an hour and half to get to Buckingham then on to your hotel or abode wherever it is. In the morning you have to be at Gatwick by 7:15 to be safe. Four to five hours sleep

Which also means you probably won't see it in daylight.

@MichaelHampton: You won't see any daylight at all except from inside the airport. Sunset 3:51pm, sunrise 7:55am. You also have to take into account that public transport will be more limited in the middle of the night.

I'm guessing you mean literally see Buckingham Palace, as in look at the outside of the building from a public spot, but it's probably worth noting that there won't be any tours available during your target time period, so if you meant "go inside and look around" the answer would be no.

Buck House is relatively modern and really not very interesting from the outside. In your time window it's cold and dark and tourist attractions are closed. My best suggestion is a bus tour of the centre, if you can find one.

Depending on your nationality, you may not be allowed to leave the airport without a visa.

@Fattie, there might be the possibility that the OP is jet-lagged, have little to no luggage, or loves night live, in which a evening walk in London is a very lovely thing to do. It will be cold, and would not appeal to the majority, but I personally would not use the word ridiculous, though that's my personal opinion.

OP, to potentially get more good answers, can you please clarify 1) Where are you flying from (so we know how jet lag you are), 2) How many luggage you are bringing with you (so we know how long it takes to haul to Buckingham Palace), 3) Are you staying at some place overnight (if so, around which area), 4) How prone are you to being exposed outdoors at around 0-5 degrees celcius for a couple hours at least (so that we know if the trip could be worth it for you)?

@RedSonja He has to leave the airport. He’s flying in to Heathrow and out of Gatwick.

There are maybe a hundred more interesting things to see in central London, even from the outside, than Buckingham Palace, which as has been mentioned is a dull modern (by London standards) building. I’d pick a different target.

@RedSonja - If you need a visa to enter the UK, I'm pretty sure you need a visa to transit through an airport in the UK too.

Good spot @MikeScott. In that case it would be a minor detour if transferring by public transport. You could actually see quite a bit of London if your luggage all fitted on your back and you were fit.

@Fattie You absolutely do not need to be back at Gatwich >3h before the flight. 2h if you have checked luggage is absolutely fine. Less for carry-on only (official recommendation is 1h before departure for domestic flights, but the same time is essentially fine for international flights since there are no additional checks on the UK side).

Very related, but focusing on the Olympics: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/8559/…

fwiw Buckingham Palace looks beautiful at night, and you can easily get around London at all hours. So I wouldn't worry about it being night, like so many commenters seemingly are... have these people ever been to London??

@RedSonja - while he may not be able to find a bus tour at 11pm, it shouldn't be hard to find a black cab driver that's willing to show him around. I did that once after a quick business trip to London, we had a morning meeting, then had a few hours to kill before catching a flight to Germany and my coworker asked the driver if he could show us around a bit, and he he gave us a nice 90 minute tour of downtown. It wasn't cheap, I think the fare was around 200 USD, but it was a nice personalized tour.

@only_pro There’s a difference between “at night” and “at 3am”. I’ve been around London at that hour. It’s dreary.

If you're travelling by train: At least during my visit, the train to Gatwick was both late to depart and was delayed during the trip. Altogether close to 45 minutes extra.

Have you considered a short trip to Salisbury to see the famous spire?