Donald's activities during the reign of his elder brother Malcolm III (Máel Coluim mac Donnchada) are not recorded.

It appears that he was not his brother's chosen heir, contrary to earlier custom, but that Malcolm had designated Edward, his eldest son by Margaret of Wessex, as the king to come.

[4] In May 1094, Donald's nephew Duncan (Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim), son of Malcolm and his first wife, Ingibiorg Finnsdottir, invaded at the head of an army of Anglo-Normans and Northumbrians, aided by his half-brother Edmund and his father-in-law Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria.

This invasion succeeded in placing Duncan on the throne, but an uprising defeated his allies and he was compelled to send away his foreign troops.

William of Malmesbury says that Edmund bargained "for half the kingdom", suggesting that Donald granted his nephew an appanage to rule.

[11] John of Fordun, following the king lists, writes that Donald was "blinded, and doomed to eternal imprisonment" by Edgar.

The sources differ as to whether Donald was first buried at Dunfermline Abbey or Dunkeld Cathedral but agree that his remains were later moved to Iona.