Taken hostage as a twelve year old by William the Conqueror in 1072, Duncan had spent his adolesence in the Norman English court. After fifteen years he was released by William II of England in 1087.
Supported by the English king, Duncan overthrew Donald III and took the crown for himself. However as Donald III had previously expelled the majority of Anglo-Normans from the Scottish nobility, Duncan was not well regarded by the community of the realm and seen by many as an English vassal. On the 12th November 1094 he was murdered by the Mormaer of the Mearns at Mondynes near Stonehaven.