As Barbados prepares to form a republic and remove the British queen as its sovereign, some residents in the capital Bridgetown on Sunday acknowledged they remained confused about what the change means and how it will affect them.

The Caribbean island won independence from Britain in 1966 but has until now retained Queen Elizabeth as the titular head of state, as is the case in many former British colonies including Jamaica and Australia.

Barbados on Tuesday will replace the queen with...