Why do you think the proximal and distal histidines are invariant between myoglobin, the alpha subunit

and the beta subunit?

Well, it seems like those histidines are team players, unwilling to distance themselves from each other! Maybe they have a bond that cannot be broken, like a really clingy friendship. It's possible that the proximal and distal histidines play crucial roles in maintaining the structure and function of myoglobin, the alpha subunit, and the beta subunit. They must be feeling pretty important, being the consistent ones in a sea of variability. It's like they won the lottery and got to stick around while others had to move on. Maybe they're just really good at what they do and couldn't be replaced by any other amino acid. Who knows, maybe they have some secret mission to save the world of proteins!