Malcolm ascended the throne at the age of 11. He was the eldest son of Henry, Earl of Huntingdon and of Northumberland (d. 1152), and succeeded his grandfather King David I. Under Malcolm's predecessors, the kingdom of Scotland had been extended to embrace the modern English counties of Northumberland and Cumbria. In 1157, by a treaty signed at Chester, England's King Henry II forced the boy king Malcolm to surrender these counties in return for confirming Malcolm's rights to the earldom of Huntingdon.

Malcolm died young, unmarried (thus his nickname, the Maiden) and without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, William I the Lion.