You also know this if you are a viewer of The Crown, Netflix's ongoing dramatic series chronicling the risks and rewards of being on the throne and the lifetime balancing act that comes with being throne-adjacent. Now in its third season, the series from creator Peter Morgan focuses on the reign of England's Queen Elizabeth II (still on the throne at the age of 93) and the very long shadow her position casts over every member of her family tree. Including the modern-day apples who are doing their best to fall as far away from that old tree as possible.

That would be the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, better known to most of us as Prince Harry and his American-born wife, actress Meghan Markle. Or as they are now known in the U.K., the architects behind the national outrage known as "Megxit."

Less than two years after their star-studded, gospel-fueled royal wedding, Prince Harry and Meghan have announced that they are "stepping back" as senior members of the royal family. They plan to split their time between the United Kingdom and North America and work to become financially independent, while also honoring their "duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages."

Judging by the headlines, the couple's desire to reshape their royal duties to fit their actual lives came as quite a shock to the members of the UK media, who were apparently too busy giving Meghan grief for every move she makes and every fashion/parenting/lifestyle step she takes to watch The Crown. Because if they were watching The Crown, they might have seen this plot twist coming.

From the beginning, The Crown has portrayed Queen Elizabeth, her husband, Prince Philip, and the other members of the Royal Family as dutiful fish trapped in a large, public fishbowl. With the possible exception of the flamboyant (and therefore totally unsuitable) Princess Margaret, the members of the royal family never seem at home in their roles. And who can blame them? No one seems to know what, exactly, the jobs of the royal family should entail, but everyone is happy to point out when those jobs are being done wrong.

True, The Crown is not a documentary. But while Morgan and his writers play with timelines and invent plenty of fictional dialogue, the characters' emotional lives spring logically from the history that we do know. And one of the things we do know is that the uneasiness starts at the top.

Queen Elizabeth II became Queen at the young age of 25, after the sudden death of her father, King George VI. And he had only become king under duress, when his older brother, King Edward VIII, gave up the crown to marry American divorcée Wallis Simpson. Elizabeth inherited a legacy of reluctance, and the first two seasons of The Crown (with Claire Foy as Elizabeth) show a young woman trying to assume a role that requires intellectual prowess and emotional reserves that she might not have. She never wanted this job, and now she's afraid she can't do it.

Meanwhile, the restless and ambitious Prince Philip (Matt Smith) chafes under the rules and protocol that keep him in a supporting role to his wife, regardless of the setting. And Princess Margaret (Vanessa Kirby) - whose role is even more supporting and more ill-defined than Philip's - ends up spinning her wheels and generating controversy for her attraction to unsuitable men and love of parties.

The going gets tougher in the third season, which debuted last November. In the swinging, unstable 1960s, with the Labour Party back in power, a monarchy seems increasingly beside the point. In one of this season's best episodes, Queen Elizabeth (now played by the Oscar-winning Olivia Colman) goes off on a globetrotting tour of racehorse breeding facilities, where she ponders her dream life as a horse-breeder. In the meantime, a group of right-wing conspirators is plotting to overthrow prime minister Harold Wilson's government, until the Queen is called upon to intervene.

As a member of the royal family, you are beside the point, until you aren't. And woe to the kingdom if you make a wrong move.

It's an impossible position to be in, regardless of the many creature comforts and perks that come with the territory. So it is no surprise that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex came to the conclusion that the royal life they inherited from multiple generations of uneasy rulers was not for them.

It certainly didn't help that Meghan has been the subject of racial slurs and media bullying from the moment she was on the royal watchers' radar. But even if the Duchess of Sussex had been treated with the same respect extended to Prince William's wife, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, it's clear that this unconventional couple wasn't being served by that same old story. Morgan and The Crown are still many seasons away from this part of the royal saga, but Harry and Meghan are capable of changing the narrative on their own.

Throwing away that hand-me-down script was a great way to start.