[1] After graduating from the Military Academy at Puerto de Santa María, Copons served as a lieutenant in the Infantry during the first War of the Pyrenees, in which he distinguished himself in several actions and was promoted to captain, at the proposal of General Antonio Ricardos.

[1] Serving initially under Eguía, Copons was given command of the 7th Infantry Division[3] at Ocaña, under Areizaga, where the Spanish army was routed by Marshal Soult.

[2] On 24 March 1814, still as Captain general of Catalonia, and accompanied by his second-in-command, Baron de Eroles, Copons received Fernando VII on the banks of the Fluviá on the King's return to Spain from his captivity in France.

[2] However, that night, Eroles detained Copons, by order of the King[1] confining him at Siguenza, pending criminal trial, where he was held until early April 1816, when he was allowed to continue to Madrid.

[2] In March 1820, following the outbreak of the military uprising in January 1820 by Rafael de Riego against the absolutist rule of Ferdinand VII, both were relieved of their commands for refusing to enact the Constitution.

[1] Later that year, while he was jefe politico of the province of Madrid, he was dismissed from the post by Ramón Feliú, the minister of the interior,[2] for having refused to close down the Fontana de Oro, a café de tertulia in Madrid, closure which was carried out immediately by the new jefe politico, José Martínez San Martín, who also arrested the Fontana's owner, Juan Antonio Gippini, on the pretext that the speakers there were doing so only with the authorisation of his predecessor (Copons).