What do the twelve stars on Mary's crown represent?

What do the twelve stars on Mary's crown represent?

In Revelation chapter 12, the “woman clothed with the sun” has a crown of twelve stars. Catholic scholars have understood that this referred to both the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. These, in turn, represent the people of both the Old and the New Covenant, of whom Mary is their Queen. She is Queen of Israel as Mother of Israel’s King, and Queen of the Church, as Mother of the King who is Savior, and thereby of all the redeemed.