Pavlos displaced his older sister, Alexia, as heir to the throne due to Greece's order of succession adhering to male-preference primogeniture.

[10] Pavlos was born into a turbulent era in Greek politics, barely a month after a coup d'état which ended democratic rule in Greece over the king's objections on 21 April 1967,[10] ushering in a military junta, led by Georgios Papadopoulos.

In December of that year, Constantine attempted a counter-coup that failed due to planning mistakes, leaks, and insufficient military support.

[10] Following the discovery and suppression of a "wide-ranging" anti-junta movement, just before its outbreak, among the ranks of the mostly royalist Navy, Papadopoulos, on 1 June 1973, declared Greece a presidential republic with himself as president and proclaimed a referendum for 29 July 1973 on the issue of the monarchy.

On 17 November 1974, after the fall of the dictatorship, the 1974 Greek legislative election was held, resulting in a victory for Constantine Karamanlis and his New Democracy party.

"[citation needed] Yet, from 1975 until early 1978 he was involved in conspiracies to overthrow the government and the republican constiution via a military coup, which eventually did not materialize.

On 11 May 1994, the Greek Government under prime-minister Andreas Papandreou renounced the Greek-citizenship status of Pavlos, alongside Constantine, and the rest of the former royal family through law 2215/1994.

[19] The law stated that Constantine's Greek-citizenship status, and accordingly his family's, could only be restored under specific conditions, including the selection of an explicit surname.

The following year, while sharing a house in Washington, DC, he and his cousin, Felipe VI of Spain, then Prince of Asturias, attended Georgetown University, where both obtained a Master of Science in Foreign Service.

[20] Following the death of his father on 10 January 2023, Pavlos delivered Constantine's eulogy during the funeral ceremony and carried his coffin with his brothers, sons and nephews at the burial.

[21] A rumour circulated that Pavlos intended to permanently relocate to Greece,[22] but this was later denied by the spokesperson of the former Greek royal family, Ivi Macris, as "completely false".

[23] On 22 January, 40 days following his father's death, Pavlos spoke to French magazine Point de Vue regarding his new role.

Pavlos also thanked the rescue and medical teams involved for their "superhuman efforts", before giving his "heartbroken" condolences to the families who lost their children in the accident and asking God to bless them all.

[26] In April 2023, Pavlos attended a Greek Orthodox Easter service in the Hamptons, where his sons Constantine-Alexios and Odysseas-Kimon were holding the Epitaphios.

[28] On 3 July 2023 at 11:45pm, Pavlos and his brother, Nikolaos, appeared in a special edition of 365 Moments, a Greek television series hosted by Sofia Papaioannou.

The day prior, Marie-Chantal posted to Instagram a close-up photo of his eye patch, saying, "Hopefully a temporary new look, but he’s kind of cute".

After thanking people for their support and wishes, Pavlos explained that the surgery was "successful", however he would be unable to travel and therefore have to spend Christmas in London.

[40] In February 2025 Athens University Administrative Law Professor Panos Lazaratos lodged an objection against the recognition of the surname filed by the members of the former royal family, arguing that it constitutes a form of indirect discrimination against all other citizens, and that it was unlawful to award them the Greek citizenship.

[15] After their marriage, the couple took up residence in Greenwich, Connecticut, the job that Pavlos obtained with the Charles R. Weber ship-broking company being headquartered there.

Pavlos is a bluewater yachtsman and crews on the multi-record-breaking monohull Mari-Cha IV, owned by his father-in-law; businessman Robert W. Miller.