Comte François-Xavier Donzelot was a French general and a Governor of the Ionian Islands and Martinique. He was the son of François Donzelot and Jeanne–Baptiste Maire and had a brother named Joseph. He was also the grandson of Anathole de Montfaucon, a famous historical family in France. He became a general of the French army in March 1801. Months later, he signed the surrender of Egypt to British forces. He then returned to France where he served in various high-echelon positions in Napoleon's army. Subsequently, he was appointed to serve as the head of the French garrison in Corfu and the Ionian Islands from 1807 to 1814. As governor, he resided in Corfu, where his gentle demeanour and mild manners made him popular with the Corfiotes. In 1808, he was named Baron of the Empire. In 1815, he was a divisional commander of the 2nd infantry division of the 1st army corps of Napoleon's forces at the Battle of Waterloo, during the 100-day return of Napoleon from the island of Elba. After the irremediable defeat, he retreated in order, keeping his flags, to the Loire river and commands the Army of the Loire which cannot protect Paris from the invasion of the Russian and Prussian coalition. He is placed in non-activity at the return of the King but quickly returns to grace since Louis XVIII, by his Minister of War, Clarke Duke of Feltre nicknamed the Marshal of Ink given the time he spent in the offices, appointed him Inspector General of the Infantry on August 18, 1816. In 1817 when he was appointed governor of Martinique. He was made Count on 22 August 1819.

The Second period of French rule in the Ionian Islands began in August 1807, when the Septinsular Republic, a Russian protectorate comprising the seven Ionian Islands, was occupied by the First French Empire in accordance with the Treaty of Tilsit. The French annexed the Republic but maintained most of its institutions for local governance. In 1809–10, the British occupied the southernmost islands, leaving only Corfu, Paxoi, and the mainland exclave of Parga in French hands. The British also imposed a naval blockade on the French-ruled islands, which began to suffer from famine. Finally, the British occupied Paxoi in late 1813 and Parga in March 1814. Following the Abdication of Napoleon, the French governor-general in Corfu, François-Xavier Donzelot, capitulated and the French garrison was evacuated. In 1815, the islands became a British protectorate, the United States of the Ionian Islands.