Given all the clues in various storylines on the original DS, there's no doubt Barnabas was supposed to be younger than Frid. It's also interesting that Frid once commented that he enjoyed playing Barnabas as a "youth" during the 1795 storyline. I found that a strange remark at the time because I considered Barnabas many things, but a youth wasn't one of them. I chalked it up to Frid possibly meaning a more naive Barnabas. But then once I saw DS in syndication I began to pick up on all those clues that Barnabas was supposedly only in his 20s... And, hey, if a 60-something Joan Crawford could step in and play her 20-something daughter's role on
The Secret Storm, anything is possible casting wise in the soap world.