白金汉宫（Buckingham Palace）是英国君主位于伦敦的主要寝宫及办公处。[1] 宫殿坐落在西敏市，是国家庆典和王室欢迎礼举行场地之一，也是一处重要的旅游景点。历史上每逢英国欢庆或是危机时刻，这儿也是不列颠人民一处重要的集会场所。
1703年至1705年，白金汉和诺曼比公爵约翰·谢菲尔德在此兴建了一处大型镇厅建筑“白金汉屋”，构成了今天的主体建筑，1761年，乔治三世获得该府邸[2]，并作为一处私人寝宫。此后宫殿的扩建工程持续超过了75年，主要由建筑师约翰·纳西爱德华·布罗尔主持，为中央庭院构筑了三侧建筑。1837年，维多利亚女王登基后，白金汉宫成为英王正式宫寝。19世纪末20世纪初，宫殿公共立面修建，形成延续至今天白金汉宫形象。二战期间，宫殿礼拜堂遭一枚德国炸弹袭击而毁；在其址上建立的女王画廊于1962年向公众开放，展示皇家收藏品。现在的白金汉宫对外开放参观，每天清晨都会进行著名的禁卫军交接典礼，成为英国王室文化的一大景观。
白金汉宫是现今世界上最为人认识的建筑物之一，它和英国著名的国会大厦、伦敦塔桥、红色双层巴士一样，都是伦敦、以至整个英国的国际标志。
白金汉宫不同于许多国家首都的著名历史建筑，白金汉宫并不是只供游人参观的博物馆。这座宫殿是君主制的中心，是女王陛下作为英国国家元首和英联邦领袖办公和履行礼仪性职责的地方。女王平常会在白金汉宫工作，通常在周末会回到温莎城堡。要知女王在不在宫殿里，只要看一看白金汉宫中央的旗杆就可以了﹔因为如果女王在宫里，旗杆上飘扬的会是君主旗，否则人们便会看到联合王国旗（即英国国旗）。如遇到盛大的礼仪场合，在天气允许的情况下，宫殿则会挂一面加大号的旗帜。
通常在圣诞节和一月期间，女王会住在诺福克的桑德林汉，她的私人庄园里。而八、九月则住在苏格兰高地上的巴尔莫勒尔堡。近年来，公众可以趁女王公务日程的暑期间参观白金汉宫的典礼厅，也就是其他时候用作官方职能和接见用的房间。迄今为止，白金汉宫已接待了来自世界各地的近400万名参观者。
白金汉宫的建筑风格为新古典主义，主体建筑为五层，其中两层为服务人员使用的附属层，高度较低。所以立面可以视为纵、横三段式处理。
白金汉宫建筑外立面装修材料为巴斯石灰岩。内部装修则以人造大理石及青金石为主。正面广场围以铸铁栅栏，为皇家卫队换岗仪式的场所。广场外为手持权杖、塑造为天使形象的维多利亚女王雕像。宫殿正面入口面向东北方，通过林荫路（The Mall）与特拉法尔加广场相连。
白金汉宫的附属建筑包括皇家画廊、皇家马厩和花园。皇家画廊和皇家马厩均对公众开放参观，其中皇家画廊内收藏有鲁本斯、伦勃朗、弗美尔、盖恩斯巴勒、卡拉内罗等人的绘画作品、卡诺瓦等人的雕塑作品。每年夏天，英国王室在花园内举办盛大的皇家招待会。
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the official residence and office of the British monarch.[1] Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality. It has been a focus for the British people at times of national rejoicing and crisis.
Originally known as Buckingham House, the building which forms the core of today's palace was a large townhouse built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1705 on a site which had been in private ownership for at least 150 years. It was subsequently acquired by George III in 1761[2] as a private residence for Queen Charlotte, and known as "The Queen's House". During the 19th century it was enlarged, principally by architects John Nash and Edward Blore, forming three wings around a central courtyard. Buckingham Palace finally became the official royal palace of the British monarch on the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837. The last major structural additions were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including the East front which contains the well-known balcony on which the Royal Family traditionally congregate to greet crowds outside. However, the palace chapel was destroyed by a German bomb in World War II; the Queen's Gallery was built on the site and opened to the public in 1962 to exhibit works of art from the Royal Collection.
The original early 19th-century interior designs, many of which still survive, included widespread use of brightly coloured scagliola and blue and pink lapis, on the advice of Sir Charles Long. King Edward VII oversaw a partial redecoration in a Belle Époque cream and gold colour scheme. Many smaller reception rooms are furnished in the Chinese regency style with furniture and fittings brought from the Royal Pavilion at Brighton and from Carlton House. The Buckingham Palace Garden is the largest private garden in London.
The state rooms, used for official and state entertaining, are open to the public each year for most of August and September, as part of the Palace's Summer Opening.
The siteIn the Middle Ages, Buckingham Palace's site formed part of the Manor of Ebury (also called Eia). The marshy ground was watered by the river Tyburn, which still flows below the courtyard and south wing of the palace.[3] Where the river was fordable (at Cow Ford), the village of Eye Cross grew. Ownership of the site changed hands many times; owners included Edward the Confessor and his queen consort Edith of Wessex in late Saxon times, and, after the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror. William gave the site to Geoffrey de Mandeville, who bequeathed it to the monks of Westminster Abbey.[4]
In 1531, Henry VIII acquired the Hospital of St James (later St. James's Palace)[5] from Eton College, and in 1536 he took the Manor of Ebury from Westminster Abbey.[6] These transfers brought the site of Buckingham Palace back into royal hands for the first time since William the Conqueror had given it away almost 500 years earlier.[7]
Various owners leased it from royal landlords and the freehold was the subject of frenzied speculation during the 17th century. By then, the old village of Eye Cross had long since fallen into decay, and the area was mostly wasteland.[8] Needing money, James I sold off part of the Crown freehold but retained part of the site on which he established a 4-acre (16,000 m2) mulberry garden for the production of silk. (This is at the northwest corner of today's palace.)[9] Clement Walker in Anarchia Anglicana (1649) refers to "new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James's"; this suggests it may have been a place of debauchery. Eventually, in the late 17th century, the freehold was inherited from the property tycoon Sir Hugh Audley by the great heiress Mary Davies
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