In Northern Ireland, if a local government district has borough status then the chairman and vice chairman of the borough council may be styled mayor and deputy mayor, respectively.
These provisions date from the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972;[1] some towns already had borough status which was carried over to their post-1972 district, while other districts later petitioned for a charter granting borough status.
Currently, only the cities of Belfast and Armagh have a Lord Mayor, with the latter being conferred with the honorific title by the Queen as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
The wife of a male mayor is called the mayoress and accompanies him to civic functions.
The former Lord Mayor of Belfast, Naomi Long, broke with tradition and appointed her husband as Lord Mayor's Consort, the first man to hold this position.