Personally I am not surprised by the whole breakup but I wouldn't be surprised if they got back together. I am hedging my bets...but you never know.
They were definitely in an awkward position. William is the future king of England, and as many have pointed out....Britian has a right to know its future queen. Does that entail the harassment that Catherine has had to deal with the last couple of months...not it doesn't. But you get the good with the bad. She did, however, handle herself FABULOUSLY IMO..she might have been frustrated (and not smiling) but she was never rude, obnoxious or just plain nasty. The next girlfriend, if there is one, has a lot to live up to in that respect.
On the other hand, after five years....you have to do something. Catherine was in an odd position (not royal and not really a commoner). She could have the benefits of dating a royal (access to the A list, great vacations, etc.) but she was and wasn't entitled to her privacy. If some of the papers are correct, and she did ask where this was going....I don't blame her. You can't put your life on hold (whether asked or not) and not know where you were going. But I don't blame William, if he isn't ready to get married he is married..and I am sure it will work out in the end. If Catherine is the one for him, maybe they date a few people in the interim and when they are ready (emotionally) to make the next move they will. If not, they will both find partners that will suit them in life.
I, for one, find they conversations that Charles, the Queen and the Duke (according to some papers) had with William to be ust foolish nonsense. Since, Phillip had a similiar talk with Charles regarding Diana and we know how that turned out...I can't imagine Charles would have the same conversation with William. Likewise, I can't imagine the Queen would say to William, we don't want another Diana. She might not have liked Diana but she respects her as Williiam's mother. And from what I gather from her personality (cause I don't know her personally) she would never be so rude.
I also find the attacks on Catherine and her parents to be just crappy IMO. They appear to be hard working and from all acounts nice! Its snobbery at its worst. Just like you can't help if you are born into a wealthy family, you can't help if you are born into a poor or middle class one.
If William and Catherine are meant to be together it will happen, if not, when William does get married (as I have said before) she will listed as a former girlfriend of Prince William and we will be scratching our heads going....oh...yeah! I forgot about her! Either way I wish them both the best of luck.