The rare title of a Spanish knighthood has come the way of Roy Boland, professor of Spanish at Sydney University.

He received his title as an Officer of the Cross of the Order of Isabel la Catolica on Monday for his commitment to teaching and researching Spanish language and culture and the promotion of relations between Spain and Australia.

The recommendation for the award was made by the Spanish embassy in Australia to the government of Spain and then approved and signed by King Juan Carlos of Spain, the Grand Master of the Order.

The professor, who in Spain goes under the name of Roy S. Osegueda (his mother's maiden name) Boland, said the title marked his position as the only professor of Spanish in Australia since 1991 until six months ago when another academic was appointed in Queensland.

The award was presented at the recently opened Cervantes Institute in Sydney, named after the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

The author's best known work is Don Quixote, perhaps a fitting connection to the romantic tale of Professor Boland.

It was his wife, Dr Margaret Shepherd, who phoned the Leader about the award.

And it was she who also explained how she came to marry the academic.

"We knew each when I was 15 and he was 17, and we didn't meet up again until five years ago,'' she said.

As teenagers the two knew each other through school, the teenage Margaret having been a student of Our Lady of Mercy College, Burraneer Bay, and Roy having gone to St Patrick's College, Sutherland. Students from the two schools used to combine for social activities but the pair went their separate ways. About five years ago there was a 30th anniversary school reunion, and the two met again and married 3 years ago in Spain.

It was a first marriage for Roy, and a second for Margaret.

The union led, perhaps inevitably, to Margaret learning Spanish, which she studied for three years.