The fact is all of those years in Royal Shakespeare Company – playing all those kings, emperors, princes and tragic heroes – were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.
--PATRICK STEWART
As I rewatch Star Trek: The Next Generation, it blows me away how much my beliefs and values were actually formed and shaped going home every day after school and watching an hour of TNG during formative years. Picard ended up being a primary role model for what I believed leaders should be.
Of course, it's natural that the source of Picard's portrayals came from a much deeper tradition of kings and emperors from Shakespeare. Art does imitate life, and vice versa.