Miss California USA can retain her crown even though she failed to reveal she had posed in her underwear as a teenager, pageant owner Donald Trump said today. Carrie Prejean appeared by Trump's side as he made the announcement at New York's Trump Tower.

Trump also defended the answer that Prejean gave at last month's Miss USA pageant when she was asked her view of marriage by judge Perez Hilton, a celebrity blogger. She said she believes marriage is between a man and a woman. "It's the same answer the president of the United States gave; it's the same answer many people gave," Trump said. "She gave an honourable answer, she gave an answer from her heart."