Paul Burrell claimed to have seen it, so it does seem rather unlikely to be true.
If I get it right you eat the chunky bits using chopsticks and slurp away the liquid part of the soup (at least according to the absolutely fantastic film Tampopo).
Leaffan, the story of the polite hostess and the fingerbowl has been retold many times. I don’t think that it’s actually true of the Queen. She is just too elegant. But it does strike me as being a really cool thing for any kind hostess to do. I find the story believable.
I was taught to scoop toward the back of the bowl when in public. If there is a good reason, fine. But to follow arbitrary rules without a good reason seems awfully silly.
Scoop away from you and don’t fully immerse the spoon. The reasons were given above. To avoid spilling towards you and your lips touch the clean side of the spoon (avoids slathering soup on your lips.)
Oh, don’t tip the bowl. There’s no reason as you don’t really finish it and the spoon dips without touching the bottom of the bowl.